Wasteland Warrior
by ShadyDeadMan
Summary: Anastasia leaves Vault 101 behind in search of her father as she tries to survive the harsh realities of life in the Capitol Wasteland.
1. Chapter 1

Wasteland Warrior

Prologue:

Leaving 101

Anastasia stood next to the battered weather worn signpost that read 'Scenic Overlook'. She looked down into the nuclear wrecked landscape below, taking in the wide picture that met her gaze. She could see for miles around and all looked ominously the same, a picture of devastation and undoubtedly desperation for those unfortunate enough to still live in the hellscape that she now found herself calling home. She thought on how lucky she had been to spend the first nineteen years of her life in the safety of Vault 101.

Vault life was far from being perfect but she almost wished she could walk back up the slope, open the door and walk back into the vault. She silently cursed her father for bringing this upon her head. If he hadn't left, Jonas would still be alive and she wouldn't have been forced to fight for her life against the very people she had lived amongst and called friends for as long as she could remember. But now her father had ruined everything, she still loved him, he was her only living relative but what was she to do now.

Already she missed Amata's smiling face and cheeky humour, she even missed Butch's antics, Butch she could deal with well enough. Indeed he had proved to be a snivelling coward when his own mother had needed him and Anastasia had come to his rescue. How could she possibly survive the wasteland, what would happen to her, she thought almost dizzyingly as terrible situations ran through her mind and she found herself forcing them from her mind, pushing them to one side in order to keep some semblance of reality, at least the only reality she could imagine for herself now that this terrible situation was beginning to play out.

She looked far into the distance, she could make out the blasted shells of buildings, and from where she stood they looked almost as they once had before they had been destroyed during the war. But she knew that as she approached the capitol city, the true horror of a nuclear strike would reveal itself in the twisted ruins of the Capitol Wasteland. She wondered how anything could have lived out here for the past two hundred years, how had civilization survived such a devastating war that left little standing and had blasted the earth with radiation.

She wondered on the effects that would have occurred on the survivors. She had to wonder if they were still human, would she be the only one left unchanged by prolonged exposure to the radiation, how long would it be before she too felt the effects of the radioactive wasteland. She tried to imagine that humanity had indeed survived and that the other vaults would at least ensure that civilization would continue to exist albeit in a few small enclaves of civilized humanity. But then again what if they too were plagued by an overseer such as the one who had controlled Vault 101. What if they were now all gone and 101 was the only survivor. The thoughts continued to race through her mind as she fought to keep some hope that what she saw before her wasn't all there was to see, the thought of forever being alone did not sit well with her.

Again she cursed her father for what he had done to her. She would not forgive him for this. Whatever his reasons they must have been good ones, why else would he leave his daughter to this terrible fate. Did he even realize what would happen once the overseer had discovered that he had gone. And poor Jonas, he had been Anastasia's close friend. He always had time for her and listened when her father was too busy. She almost wished she had killed the overseer for what he had done, but he was Amata's father and she could not bring herself to have Amata hate her for murdering her father. Why had Amata stayed, she could have come with her, friends forever. But it wasn't to be, her path lay in a different direction. She doubted she would ever see Amata again, they would never allow her back into the vault now.

She looked down below her to the bottom of the cliffs. A blasted and broken road wound into the distance. The rusting shells of what were once automobiles lay scattered along the highway in ever silent death. They would have been there since the war, their corpses rotting in the boiling and relentless heat of the wasteland sun. None of them would ever move again, indeed most had been stripped by wasteland scavengers of anything that was useful or salvageable. The chilling realization that some would contain the rotting husks of those who had died in the initial nuclear strikes, tossed about and baked inside the metal shells as the bombs fell all around them.

Another thought struck her, she would be forced to scavenge, perhaps take from the dead if she were unlucky enough to come across those who had perished in the wastelands. The thought seemed almost ghoulish, picking over the bones of the dead, her next thought shocked her to her very core, when food was scarce what did people eat, would they have reverted to their animalistic instincts and resorted to cannibalism. She shook uncontrollably, the more she thought of all the possibilities the more she thought it would be a good idea to walk back into the cave leading to the vault and simply wait there in relative safety from the outside world and all its many horrors. She dismissed the idea, it could easily attract predators. She had to find a glimmer of civilization in the wasteland and soon or what else could she expect other than to be swallowed in the wastes.

She looked back over her shoulder, squinting as the baking midday sunlight shone down on her pale skin. The sky overhead was blissfully peaceful and clear of clouds. It would have been a welcome sight if everything else didn't seem so bleak. She stared at the old wooden door leading back into Vault 101. She thought momentarily on all that she had left behind. She thought of all she had ever known in her nineteen years of life. She thought on everyone she had ever known, all her friends back in the vault, but mostly of Amata, she couldn't get her best friend out of her mind. But she knew there was no way back now. Only the wasteland welcomed her now. The Capitol Wasteland beckoned to her, daring her to take the first steps on her journey.

She looked back out over the wasteland, she was drawn to what could be a village or settlement, it was hard to tell from this distance. It was piled high with metal, wood and rubbish, rising into the air perhaps walls for protection against predators she thought. From her vantage point she could make out little else, she would have to investigate further if she was to find anyone in this god forsaken place. Perhaps it would also offer some shelter from the wasteland heat.

Where once there had been green fields and trees, now nothing grew. The life seemed to have been drained out of the very earth itself. Anastasia couldn't help but feel sad. She had seen pictures in the vault of how Washington D.C had once been, before the war had destroyed everything. She had often hoped that one day she would get the chance to visit the outside. But nothing could have prepared her for the harsh reality of what man had done to destroy himself.

She sat down next to the signpost and began checking through her travellers backpack. She looked through everything she had managed to take or steal from the guards she had been forced to defend herself against. There was also everything she had salvaged from the vault in the hurry to get out of there. She could only hope that she hadn't killed anyone during her escape, she felt no malice towards them, only pity that they felt the need to kill Jonas and try to kill her. She had known them all, but the overseer had made certain that there was no chance of resolving the situation peacefully. She could only hope that Amata would be safe from her father's wrath.

She had three 10mm pistols, one was in very good condition, it was the one Amata had stolen from her father and brought to her when she had warned her to leave. She ensured it had its full complement of bullets and placed it in the holster at her waist. The other two she had taken from two of the security guards when they had opened fire on some of the vault dwellers, what could have possessed them to do such a thing, whatever the reason she knew the vault would be a very different place from now on and wondered just how long the overseer could last given the anger that would erupt from the murder of innocents. But the thought that she could be blamed to cover it up angered her, only Amata would know the truth. She placed the other two in one of the side pockets of the backpack, making certain both were fully loaded. She hoped and prayed that no one had died due to her escape, she had battered the guards hard with her baseball bat and left them in a bloody and battered state, but surely that was better than death. Of course she had robbed them of everything they were carrying, which was bulky enough to cause her some concern over how far she would have to travel before reaching somewhere she could trade.

She had her beloved BB Gun. It was her tenth birthday present which she cherished dearly as she did everything her father had given her. She took an old rag from her pocket and wiped it down the baseball bat that had bought her her freedom in blood. She winced slightly as she wiped away blood, gore and even teeth embedded in the bat. She shook as a chilling shiver ran down her spine at the thought of what she had just done. She had seven police batons which she had taken from the fallen guards. They would make useful trade items she hoped. It seemed somewhat ridiculous now thinking that she had stopped time and again during her escape to recover what were relatively useless items, even going so far as to strip guards of their security uniforms. But if she was honest she had known at the back of her mind that everything she had taken would possibly be tradable in the outside world even though at the time she was trying to keep the guards from killing her.

She counted her ammunition for the guns she now carried. She had 231 rounds for the 10mm pistols and 50 rounds for the BB Gun. She guessed that it probably wouldn't last long with the horrors that undoubtedly plagued the wastelands but it would have to last until she could either find or trade for some more. She placed the ammunition in one of the pockets on the side of the backpack. She took out her medical kit and began searching through it counting the items she had placed inside. There were seventeen stimpack syringes, two boxes of mentats, one syringe of med-x and one bottle of rad-x pills. She closed the medical kit and thanked her good fortune that she had at least some means of healing herself if she were to become hurt in the wasteland or wounded in a fight. She placed the medical kit carefully inside her backpack and looked at the full bottle of vodka she had taken as payment from Butch's mother for saving her from the radroach attack. She told herself it was for medicinal purposes, but actually longed for a drink, what would indeed be her first drink of alcohol. She placed it beside the backpack and told herself she would have a drink before she set of, perhaps it would give her a little false courage to take her first steps into the wilderness.

She looked at the bulging heap of clothes she had taken from the vault. She certainly wouldn't run short of clothes at least. She sorted through them, her Vault 101 jumpsuit that she had changed for one of the heavy security uniforms. It would offer a little more protection on her journey. She had replaced her baseball cap with one of the security helmets. There were six other sets of security armour and helmets, two utility jumpsuits and a vault lab uniform. She tucked her baseball cap into her belt, figuring that the security helmet would at least offer a little more protection if she was attacked, although it would be hot under the baking sun.

She took out her Grognak the Barbarian comic from her backpack and its plastic cover and sat, her legs dangling over the edge of the cliff. She began to read thinking of her dear friend Amata who had given her the comic all those years ago for her tenth birthday. Half an hour later she placed the comic safely back inside its plastic cover and carefully inside her backpack, smiling as she did so. There she was reading a comic with little care in the world and yet her entire life was collapsing around her. She began giggling uncontrollably at the crazy situation she now found herself in. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she couldn't decide whether they were tears of joy at being free or real tears that expressed how she really felt at this terrible situation.

She looked through the rest of her junk hoping it was at least tradable for something a little more useful. She had a baseball and baseball glove, also birthday presents that she didn't really want to part with. She had a medicine Bobblehead which would undoubtedly come in useful, increasing her knowledge of medicine. She had two conductors, some pre-war money, some bits of scrap metal a tube of wonderglue and her keyring. From the canteen she had taken a plate, a bowl, a cup and knife and fork as well as a spoon and tin opener. She had taken both a lighter and some matches for lighting a fire if she found herself out in the wastes at night. She had taken enough tinned food to last her up to two weeks. She had taken two one-litre bottles and two one gallon containers all full of clean vault water. She wondered how long it would last and how long before she was forced to drink the irradiated water that she would find in the wastes. She had a plastic pipe for transferring water from the containers to her water bottles. She knew she wouldn't be able to travel long distances with so much to carry and hoped that the settlement she had seen was both occupied and friendly, if indeed it was a settlement at all, there was no way of knowing from this distance.

She crossed her legs, swinging them over the side of the cliff, she felt a little like singing, but couldn't think what to sing. She was in truth completely out of her depth, just putting off the inevitable first steps into the wastes for as long as she could, wanting to feel the familiarity of being so close to the vault for just a while longer. She turned and picked up the bottle of vodka. She stared at it for a long moment and finally unscrewed the cap. She slowly lifted the bottle to her lips and let the liquid spill into her mouth. She took a long mouthful and swigged it down before putting the cap back on the bottle and placing it inside her backpack. She coughed at the strong taste of the alcohol. But she found herself enjoying the taste and wondering what the other alcoholic drinks she had seen mentioned on the vault computers tasted like. She promised herself she would try them if she got the chance.

She placed the voice recording disc in the Pipboy 3000. It was the one she had taken from Jonas's body, the one from her father. She listened to it over and over again trying to glean some kind of information that would be useful in finding her father, but if she was truly honest with herself that task may have to wait. She wanted to set out on her own as daunting as the prospect seemed, she knew in her heart that she could do it and that was what she really wanted. The freedom to make her own choices and not be guided by anyone. And besides which she still felt a great deal of anger and resentment at her father for leaving in the first place. She had to decide now what it was she would do. Searching for her father could take a long time, especially if he didn't wish to be found. The more she thought about it the more emotional she got, until her eyes welled up and warm tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Pull yourself together Ana." She mumbled under her breath and through all the tears.

"It's time to see what the Capitol Wastelands has to offer." She continued as she wiped away the tears with her hand. She stood back up and walked over to her backpack, studying it for a moment and finally reaching for the pile of clothes on the floor. She folded them up the best she could and placed each one inside the backpack. She wondered why her father would have such a travellers backpack and why he would possibly need it. And perhaps also why he hadn't taken it, although she guessed that he was probably in more of a rush to escape than even she had been. It took ten minutes to pack everything away. It was a tight fit with everything she had crammed inside but everything except the helmets and her baseball bat went inside. She checked her holster to ensure she could get to her pistol if she needed to. The helmets she strung up to the outside of the backpack from dangling tassels. It would be a bit uncomfortable to carry but she was hoping to trade them as soon as possible. She placed what remained of the string in her pocket with the dirty blood soaked rag.

She checked her Pipboy 3000 to make certain that it was in good working order, she would be relying on it for a lot during her travels. While fiddling about with the controls she managed to tune in to something called the Enclave Radio, she wondered what and who the Enclave were, and smiled at the thought that their were indeed people out there and with enough technical know how to run a radio station. She was intrigued and let it play for awhile. A voice claiming to be President John Henry Eden spoke on the radio followed by what she thought was extremely annoying music. Within minutes she had turned it off, the music already beginning to grate on her nerves.

With everything packed away in its place she lifted the large heavy backpack onto her back, taking the two water containers, one in each hand and placing the baseball bat through a loop on the backpack. She was finally ready to go. She made her way down the slope, careful to keep her footing. She was only too aware of how valuable the water she carried would be to her over the coming days, and one wrong step could result in a punctured container. She reached the road her gaze drawn to the shopping trolley in the middle of the road. She wondered how it had got there and decided such trivial matters were the least of her worries.

As she set off on her journey towards the settlement she noticed her Pipboy had tuned into something called Galaxy News Radio, the man speaking called himself 'Three Dog'. The signal wasn't quite as clear as the Enclave Radio but she liked the music so left it on, besides she would need something to occupy her mind as she travelled. What she thought might be a settlement got gradually closer. She climbed over rocks and thick underbrush in the unforgiving terrain, making her way steadily to what she hoped would be at least a hint of civilization. The closer she got the more hopeful and convinced she became that she was right and indeed this was a settlement. Finally after twenty minutes of travelling she stood at the base of a large metal structure. The towering walls rose up over her. It was obvious to her that the place had been designed with defence in mind. She walked around the base trying to find some signs of an entrance.

Suddenly she got the feeling that she was being watched, a strange sensation like a sixth sense telling her danger was close by. She dropped the water containers lightly onto the ground and took the baseball bat from her pack. Within seconds she was being charged by two giant rodents. She swung the bat viciously, cracking the leading mole rat in the side of the head and stunning it momentarily. She fought a bitter and bloody battle with the two frenzied creatures until they both lay dead and bleeding at her feet. Just as she thought it was over a third charged through the underbrush, it was snapping at her legs, its teeth narrowly missing her shins as she again battered it until it lay dead on the ground.

She waited another five minutes, ready and alert for more of the vile creatures, but it seemed like that was the last of them. She placed the baseball bat on her pack and picked up the water containers and began walking. The radio caught her attention. There was mention of someone called James, which just happened to be her father's name. What were the chances of it being the same person, she thought to herself. Five minutes later she stood in front of the heavy metal gates that lead into the settlement.

A robot introduced itself as Deputy Weld. It stood guard in front of the gates. "Welcome to Megaton, enjoy your stay it's the friendliest town around." It said in its robotic voice.

Bodies of giant ants lay scattered around the entrance. Obviously the deputy was taking his duties seriously if the body count was anything to go by. The gates whirred into action and the robot spoke once more. "Please stand clear of the gate." It requested.

Anastasia waited a moment turned to look back at the wasteland and was glad her short journey was at least over for now, although what waited for her beyond the gates she could only guess at. She walked through the gates glad to see that at least somewhere had survived, perhaps if she liked it she would stay, but for now she would be happy to put her feet up and have a drink in the bar that the robot kept mentioning, Moriarty's she believed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1:

Welcome to Megaton

Anastasia turned around as the heavy metal gates clanged shut behind her. She turned back around as the gradual realization of the place in which she now stood met her gaze. What met her eyes was surprising to say the least. An entire town built from salvaged metal, built up into levels around a giant crater. With walkways seemingly allowing movement from the ground floor up to the topmost level of Megaton. Dozens of buildings of all shapes and sizes were built into the crater wall, a seemingly impossible engineering feat considering the lack of tools and equipment. Anastasia decided although it was dilapidated and ramshackle, the town was quite the achievement and wondered at what other sights she would see if she were to travel far beyond the walls of Megaton. The walls that surrounded the town were high and sturdy, easily capable of protecting the settlement from attack.

The place bustled with life. She wondered at the number of people who made their home in Megaton, without even venturing any further than the gates, she could see dozens of people going about their business, whether walking down the steps carved into the craterside or entering and leaving the many buildings that stood all around. Makeshift washing lines were strung across the walkways from building to building. Clean, drying clothes wafted about in the mid day sun. There were snipers above the gatehouse, no doubt on guard for likely raiders, if such people even existed, she knew so little about the world beyond the vault and was instantly fascinated and somewhat in awe of all that she was seeing.

Pipes could openly be seen protruding from the ground as they stretched down into the crater, she wondered what they were for until she looked down the slope and saw a steady stream of water spurting from a damaged pipe. 'So they even have running water,' she thought to herself. She was impressed to say the least and somewhat relieved, almost enough to start her own waterworks again as she thought of the prospect of having to walk the wasteland all alone with no sign of human life. Her initial fears had come to nothing, and for that she was relieved and somewhat grateful to whatever or whoever was looking out for her.

She drew a few gazes as she continued to stand in front of the town's gates deciding what she should do. Definitely the first thing was to trade for some currency, if they still used currency. She had plenty of junk to sell and would be glad of relieving herself of some of the weight she was carrying. Next would be to find a bed, she didn't think much to the prospect of having to sleep outside, even inside the seemingly safe walls of Megaton.

She continued taking in the sight, almost missing the man who now approached her. She looked him up and down. He wore a leather longcoat and cowboy hat, while carrying what looked to be an assault rifle swung across his back. He was dark skinned and wore a heavy thick brown beard which covered much of his face.

"Another newcomer, we seem to get more with each passing day." He said with a slight grin as he stopped in front of her.

"The name's Lucas Simms. I'm the town sheriff and mayor too when the need arises. Welcome to Megaton and just holler if you need something." The sheriff said as he offered his hand in greeting.

"I'm Anastasia, although most people I know just call me Ana. This seems like a nice town you have here, sheriff. It's a pleasure to meet you." Ana said as she took his hand and shook it heartily.

"Friendly and well mannered. I think we're going to get along just fine. You treat my people nice and you're welcome to stay as long as you like." The sheriff replied with a friendly smile.

"Right. Message Received, sheriff." Ana answered.

"I'm glad we understand each other. Now is there something I can help you with?" The sheriff asked sincerely.

"I'm looking for my father." She takes a photograph from her pocket and hands it to the sheriff. "Maybe you've seen him." She says hopefully, although she still feels reluctant to actually pursue her father.

"Nope sorry, haven't seen him. I've got enough to do in this place without keeping tabs on every visitor that comes through here. Perhaps you should ask around town, maybe someone has seen him." The sheriff said with barely the briefest glimpse at the picture before handing it back to Ana.

"Oh, ok. If you don't mind me asking, how did the town get its name?" She asked curiously.

"It's from the unexploded still active bomb that the town is built around. Walk straight down the slope into the middle of town, you can't miss it."

"Would you mind if we discussed the bomb?" She asked inquisitively.

"What about it?" The sheriff answered with a question.

"Don't you think it might be a good idea if someone disarmed that thing? If it were ever to detonate there wouldn't be enough of anyone left to even bury them. Not that there would be anyone left to do the burying."

"I don't trust any of the locals to tinker with it, and besides most people don't even realize it's still active and still a threat. And hell, we've got Cromwell and his bunch of crazies from the Church of Atom who worships the damn thing. Why do you think you could disarm the bomb?"

"I could see about disarming it for you." She said foolishly before realizing what she was committing herself to and before she could think of the results if she failed. She had read books and computer archives while in the vault on various nuclear devices, but didn't know how much use it would be to her, and it wasn't like she could even remember everything she had read.

"Oh all right, fine. But just take a look at it first. Make certain you know what you are doing. Otherwise don't touch it. I'll tell you what. If you manage to disarm the bomb there will be one hundred caps in it for you."

"Caps?" Ana questioned, not knowing anything about the local currency.

"Damn, you are green, kid. It's what wastelanders use for currency."

"Well that's good to know. In that case make it five hundred caps and you've got yourself a deal. Surely it's worth it to be rid of that thing." She said with a slight grin, it didn't hurt to try and get the best deal, she was sure it wouldn't be the only time she was forced to barter for the best offer she could get.

"Well we aren't rolling in caps down here in Megaton. But I like you, girl. So ok, we've got a deal."

"Great, nice doing business with you, sheriff. Now that I intend to help you with the bomb, maybe you could take another look at that photograph." She said as she handed it to him once again.

Let me take a better look." He said as he took the photograph and studied it for several minutes. "Come to think of it there was a stranger come through here. He looked like you're father, maybe they're the same person. Try asking in the saloon, Moriarty's. But watch yourself around that man he can be trouble."

"Could you tell me where I can find Moriarty's, sheriff? And where can I trade some goods I have?"

"Moriarty's is on the top level opposite the main gate. Just watch yourself around him, whatever he says he is definitely not your friend. For trading see Moira at Craterside Supply, just walk down the slope and turn right onto the first walkway you see, which will lead straight up to it. She sells some weapons and other stuff, makes weapons too."

"Where can I rent a bed?"

"Either at one of the common rooms around town, although they may be cheap they are increasingly getting full up with all the new faces that are coming into town. Or you could try Moriarty's, See Nova she'll fix you up with something and someone to your liking if that's your thing."

Ana looked at him in a puzzled manner not understanding what he meant about being fixed up. The sheriff simply stood with a wide grin on his face, amused at her lack of knowledge of the outside world.

"Thanks, sheriff. I'll go and see about getting settled in."

"Don't blow us up now, kid. See you around."

The further Ana walked into town the more people she could see. Children ran around playing. A group of seemingly devout worshippers stood around listening to an elderly man as he seemed to praise the bomb with prayers and speeches. She wondered if they would be a problem if she could manage to disarm it, although she wasn't exactly confident about being able to do that. Merchants traded their wears from small stalls around the bottom of the crater. What looked like a diner seemed to be offering up food to the town's hungry residents. Others tended to Brahmin or conducted business or conversations in the middle of the street.

Ana thought there must be hundreds of people in Megaton, and each one was a potential friend or ally, maybe something more if she were to stay here for a long time. It was early days yet but she was certain that she would like it here and wondered whether she would really want to leave. Of course she would have to earn herself some money no matter what she did. She wondered about the different trades that the people of Megaton must have to survive out in the wastes. Certainly there would be hunters and trappers, merchants and traders, farmers and mercenaries and all manner of other likely trades she could turn her hand to if she so desired. The thought of such freedom filled her with a sense of joy. She had always been her own person, never one to follow the crowd and now she had the chance to go her own way.

Half an hour later Ana had found Craterside Supply and bartered for a decent price for her goods. She had traded all of the uniforms, the utility jump suits and lab coat, as well as some conductors and come out with 234 caps. But mostly she was just glad to be rid of all the extra weight. She had agreed to take part in the writing of a Wasteland Survival Guide. For her troubles she had been given an armoured jump suit, the property of a woman who had left it there over twelve years earlier and had never returned. She had changed into the suit and to her surprise it fit perfectly. Now all she had to do for her first part of the book was to check out a Super Duper Mart whose location Moira Brown had put into Ana's Pipboy. It was a start and would hopefully pay something, although she was unsure if any danger awaited her there.

Now it was time to find Moriarty's. Ten minutes of searching the confusing and winding walkways she stood outside of Moriarty's Saloon. Anastasia walked into the saloon, barely able to contain her excitement at seeing a real life saloon. She had read about them in the vault archives, but she could never have imagined she would get the chance to have a drink in one. The place was packed with dozens of people. Many sat at tables drinking and smoking, filling the air with an odorous haze that immediately made her cough. There were over a dozen scantily clad saloon girls going about their business, some danced, some drank, others sat with customers, their services paid for by the thirsty folk who were spending their hard earned caps on drink and some company. Before Ana moved any further towards the bar, a woman approached her. She was dressed in a short black leather dress, with black boots, stockings and suspenders. She wore her red hair short and neatly combed, a cigarette pressed to her mouth.

"Hey, hon. Are you new in town, I don't think I've seen you around before?" The woman asked with a mischievous smile.

"I just got here today, I'm Ana. I'm looking for somewhere to stay."

"I'm Nova, if you're looking for a room. That will be 120 caps with company."

"With company?" She asked innocently.

"You're a real sweetie aren't you, kid. Someone to share your bed for the night, someone to keep you warm and …."

"I can pay for that?" Ana asked incredulously.

"Where do you think you are, girl? This is a saloon, Moriarty's saloon. Best poon in the wastes, if I do say so myself. Of course if you'd like one of the other girls, there's plenty to choose from. Come and sit down over here and I'll give you the tour of Moriarty's and everyone in here. Normally I'd charge for my time, but seeing as how you're new and a little clueless I'll give you ten minutes of my time, I'm due a break anyway. Just one thing I ask, keep any moral bullshit to yourself. I don't tell anyone how to live and don't expect to be told. Another thing, keep your guns holstered and see one of the bouncers if you have any trouble.

Nova led Ana to an empty table and walked behind the bar taking two beers from the shelf. She walked back and opened both bottles before sitting down, her hand resting on Ana's arm in a comforting gesture, although the girl seemed to be enjoying herself. Ana took a drink from the bottle, the cold beer a welcome taste in her mouth.

"So I'll start with the staff. The barman is Gob, don't let him being a ghoul fool you, he's a real sweetheart." Ana looked over at the strange looking man, never having seen a ghoul in her life before and instantly felt pity for what must have been a painful existence.

"The bouncers are Tyrone Blake, Tyson Blake, Tyler Blake, Rex Vaughn, and Frank Jameson. She said pointing out each one in turn. "The Blake brothers are real hard-asses so watch yourself around them. They don't let anyone mess with Moriarty. Rex is new and kinda weird. Frank is my man, well at least as much as he can be, me being a whore and all."

Ana studied the one she had just pointed out as Frank. He was a large muscular man with tattoos on his arms, neck and face, like tribal spirals, and pictures of what looked like demons. Although it was hard to tell what they were in the haze that wafted throughout the bar.

"The saloon girls are Cynthia, Luna, Vixen, Cherry, Blossom, Candy, Honey, Jess, Belle, Maria, Lucia, Scarlet, Francesca, and Luke." She said as she pointed out each one of the girls as they went about their business.

"Luke?" Ana queried.

"We don't get that many women customers, but not all want another woman in their bed, so Moriarty hired Luke." Nova said as she waved to the handsome young man, he was well dressed and seemed almost as out of place as Ana was.

"Now for the customers. Just so you know who you are dealing with, if you happen to talk to any of them. That's Caleb, Zeke and Joshua. They hunt for Megaton, bringing back meat and animal skins for trade. Maybe they would take you out with them if you fancied trying your hand at hunting." Ana looked over at the three heavily bearded men, one had a saloon girl draped across his lap, her arms around his neck.

"The old fellow in the corner is Trashcan Charlie with his dog Pugsley. He scavenges a lot of stuff from the Capitol and brings it back here. He's good to know if you're out of Megaton and looking for scavengers to trade with. The big guy sat with him is Big Ed; he's a mercenary for hire. Next to him is Barbecue Bob, he hunts molerats with his flamer."

"I'll never remember all these names, Nova." Ana protested slightly as she tried to remember what was being said to her as she looked around the room trying to put names to faces.

"That's no problem, hon. I'm always here to ask if you want to get some info on any of the people in here, so long as it's nothing bad against any of them. The next table along is Keira Lyons a recruiter from the Brotherhood of Steel, Kyle Collins a regulator, his partner Dean O'Connor also a regulator and the other two are Deputy Matt Kaine, and Deputy Will Boone. That's one group of people you never want to mess with. They're alright but all of them are battle hardened veterans from the Capitol in the war against the Super Mutants."

"I'll remember them; it could be useful in future once I've found what I'm going to do around here."

"In the back room there you can just about see the local gambling group. Moriarty is the one with his back to us, the rest are Mr Vincent Salvatore, Kate Frazier, Caesar Lopez, Ron Goldman, Vivienne Ramiro, Jon Ramiro, their son Mitchell Ramiro, who's also something of a gunslinger, got himself a growing reputation and an invite from the regulators to join them."

"Can anyone get an invite for the game?" Ana asked excitedly, remembering her time in the vault gambling for fun with her father and Jonas.

"I reckon it's out of your price range, kid. Minimum bet is 1000 caps; minimum starting fund is 5000 caps."

"How did they get so rich?"

"I don't know, although Moriarty collects a lot of money from this place. I can't say I know the others that well, other than the Ramiro's are up from Rivet City. The next table along are Indiana who is something of an explorer, Max Stryker, he's reported to be a contract killer, sooner or later him and Sheriff Simms will have words. The other one is Snake he hunts all manner of reptiles and insects and brings their meat and skins back to Megaton for trading, he's also got himself a tannery across town. The next table are Klint Blackwood a merchant from Rivet City and the Muldoon family who are his caravan guards and sometimes hired mercenaries. There's Wes and his wife Erin and their two sons and two daughters Daniel, Aaron, Saphy, Raven. They may be hiring if you're looking for a tour of the wasteland, it could be a good idea to go with such a reputable caravan and a lot safer than going alone."

"That sounds promising, how long are they here for?"

"They arrived today, so they'll probably set up their market stall for a few days, do some trading with Moira and then do the trip around the wastes which usually takes them about a week, stopping overnight in each location."

"How do you know all this, Nova?"

"You'd be surprised what I know about most people in this place, information keeps this place one step ahead of everyone else, and us in a job for while ever Moriarty keeps this place open. And that reminds me, you seem a bit green for this place you may want to try one of the common rooms, it will only cost you about ten to twenty caps per night, it's a bit overcrowded but better than nothing."

"You'd turn me away?"

"No, your money is as welcome as anyone's. I just think you'd be out of your depth."

"You're probably right. It's not exactly what I was looking for when I came in here."

"No problem, Ana, just have a drink and get to know the people in here, maybe you'll see someone you like."

"Who are all these other people?"

"They are mostly just Megaton residents looking to cool off after a hard days work. Over there at the bar is old man Walter, if you've got any mechanical know-how maybe he could use your help with the water processing plant, he's always asking for help. Over there is Jericho, word is he used to be a raider until he got sick and tired of all the killing, could be a good one to get to know if you don't mind such a shady character. Over there is Lucy West, she's been looking for someone to travel up north and deliver a letter to her family, and it's too dangerous for her to travel alone in the wastes. The one stood at the bar is Ryan Simms, Sheriff Lucas Simms's brother. If you were looking to travel out in the wastes hunting raiders and the like he's your man."

"Raiders?"

"What did they teach you in that vault of yours? Raiders are the scum of the wastes, they seem to be everywhere, the regulators simply can't keep track of them all and the Brotherhood of Steel has their hands full with the Enclave and the Super Mutants."

"Enclave, Super Mutants, who are all these people?"

"How long do you expect to last out there when you don't even know who the enemies are? The Enclave is like a fascist version of the Brotherhood, you either do what they say or they destroy you from what we've been hearing from the wasteland lately. The Super Mutants are genetically altered super freaks who delight in war, pain torture and killing, don't ever get captured by them. What with them and the raiders not to mention all beasts out there in the wastes there aren't too many safe settlements. Perhaps only Megaton and Rivet City, and the Brotherhood of Steel's Citadel, everywhere else is just too small to survive for too long in the wastes, there are other settlements but who knows how long they can possibly survive with such evil in the wastes."

"Its all good to know though, I suppose I never thought it would be that different to life in the vault, although I've had my worries since leaving."

"Whatever it was like in your vault, you can guarantee you were a hell of a lot better off than you are now. Everyday is a survival out here. We've got people pouring into Megaton and Rivet City from all over the Capitol Wasteland trying to find a better and safer life for their families. Just don't turn out to be like those wasteland scum or the regulators will track you down and make certain you don't live to see another day. But you seem alright to me, just be careful who you join up with while your out there. If you're looking to join the Brotherhood of Steel talk to Keira Lyons, she could put you on the right track or even stop by the Citadel, although that may be dangerous as the Capitol is swarming with Super Mutants and Raiders.

If you're looking to join the regulators have a word with Kyle or Dean, although they usually take experienced veterans as it's obviously very dangerous. There's no shortage of opportunities around here, although most of them just involve going into the wastes and being used as target practice. If on the other hand you're looking to make some quick money and don't mind getting down and dirty … You're a good looking girl, I'll have a word with Moriarty and see if he's setting on any more girls, there's been a few come in from the wastes this past month who are still waiting to here, we've just got a lot of people looking to make money at the moment and this is the safest place in town to do it, there's other places but they don't look after there girls like Moriarty.

He can be a real bastard when he wants to be, but he always looks after the people who work for him, even Gob was bought from slavers and given a job here. Like I said earlier, the Blakes take care of the more unpleasant parts of running the saloon, such as one guy who came in about a week ago. He got himself really drunk and slashed one of the girl's faces with a switchblade. Before the sheriff could get here he had been tortured and hung by his balls from the walkway outside with a note around his neck warning anybody who messed with Moriarty. That reminds me, the girl is Delilah, she's been off work ever since and is looking to get to her family in Rivet City, I bet she would pay well for an escort. She's staying in one of the common rooms, just be gentle with her, she's feeling a bit fragile and vulnerable at the moment, nobody deserves to have that done to them, that bastard Marcus deserves all he got for doing that to Delilah. He's rotting in Sheriff Simms's jail at the moment, minus his balls."

"I'm glad you came over and talked to me, Nova. I wouldn't have known any of this without you."

"Don't mention it, kid. Just look after yourself and stop by and buy me a drink occasionally."

"I've got some caps, would you like another drink?"

"I'm guessing you're going to need all you can get until you settle in and get yourself working, so I'll buy the drinks for now, just remember me when you're a big shot around here."

"Thanks, I guess I'm just lucky you came over."

"So what do you think so far? Is Megaton to your liking?"

Ana took a long sip from her bottle and looked around the room with a slight smile on her face. "I think it's great, I mean it wasn't really what I was expecting but then again I really didn't know what to expect."

"You should see this place at night, the girls put on a dancing show, lap dancing, pole dancing and this place goes wild."

"What about Luke, does he dance?"

"Like what you see, do you Ana. Yep, he sure does, strips down to his birthday suit for all the women who come in here, and a few of the guys, guess everyone's got their own preferences, who are we to judge."

"Do any of the girls just dance, without you know, doing the …"

"Sure, some of them aren't ready or are unwilling to whore themselves just yet, but the moneys not quite so good. Why are you thinking of trying out?"

"I don't know, maybe. It seems like a good way to earn some money without actually going all the way."

"If truth be told, most of them will end up whoring before too long, the temptation for the extra money is just too great and with business in Megaton going through the roof at the moment Moriarty can't hire girls quick enough to meet the demand."

"Let me think about it, just the dancing though, I don't really think I could sleep with someone I didn't know."

"No problem, kid. Everyone's got their limits, if you want to try out come and see me and I'll take you through some of the dances."

"Out here, in front of all these people?"

"No, in my room, but you would be out here soon enough."

"It sounds interesting. I'll have a think about it while I'm trying to find somewhere to sleep for the night."

"Listen I wouldn't normally do this, but you can stay with Frank and I if you're stuck for somewhere to stay, just until you get your own place."

"Won't Frank mind?"

"Nope, he'll love having another girl around the house. Probably he'll think up some excuse to invite you into our bedroom."

"And you don't mind?"

"Not really, he always comes back to me. I'm not the possessive type."

"Thanks, Nova. So much to think about, I suppose I'll sit here for awhile and get mildly drunk, then ask around tomorrow for some work."

"Just sit back and enjoy yourself, Ana. I'm sure you're going to love this place when you've been here awhile."

An hour later Nova was back at work talking with the customers and Ana was left to drink her beer while the place got gradually more packed as the day went on. She couldn't help but think on what everything Nova had told her and couldn't quite decide on what to do next.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2:

Three hours later, ten bottles of beer, a bottle of whiskey and three hours of gambling with the locals and Ana let the bottle caps fall through her fingers. A total of 856 caps sat on the table in front of her. A Megaton local by the name of Dan sat opposite her looking at his cards, the caps in the middle of the table totalled 130 and Ana had just won the last hand of cards much to Dan's anger and annoyance. Ana scooped the caps up in her hands and placed them with the already sizable pile she now possessed.

"I say you're cheating girly, ain't no one has that much luck." Dan hissed through gritted teeth.

Ana looked around at the other players, two men and a woman as well as Dan, all of them were Megaton locals. She glared at Dan with more than a hint of anger in her eyes at the suggestion she had been cheating.

"It's called skill you docile inbred moron. I don't cheat." Ana spat out the insult with slurred disgust, feeling emboldened by the amount of alcohol she had consumed.

"Why you mouthy little bitch. I ought to put you over my knee and spank some manners into you." Dan shouted back, standing and waving his fist at the young woman as she sat scowling back at him.

"You could try old man, but you'll be the one picking your teeth up off the floor." Ana shouted back angrily as she stood to face the older man, incensed at the suggestion she had cheated. She couldn't help but wobble slightly from the alcohol she had drunk. This seemed to encourage Dan as he swung a fist at Ana's jaw.

Gob looked over and immediately shouted for Frank. "Hey Frank, we've got trouble."

Ana amazingly managed to dodge the punch as she ducked and rose up with her fist clenched delivering a vicious and unexpected uppercut to Dan's jaw. He rocked backwards and was about to be hit again when Frank arrived and caught her punch in his hand. He squeezed enough so that she sat back down her face cringing from the pain. Dan saw his opportunity and lunged over the table only to be caught in a head lock and forced to sit down.

"I don't know what your problem is with each other but you either quit now or you're both out, no excuses." Frank shouted as the whole barroom watched with interest.

"I want my money back from that scheming little bitch, she's cheating."

"I haven't cheated anyone, if you don't know how to play the game you should stick to something a little more to your capability, perhaps Brahmin tipping or something." Ana replied, she seemed to be sobering up fast and wanted another go at rearranging his face.

"What do you lot say? Has she been cheating?" Frank asked the other players as they sat calmly taking in the argument.

"She's just good at cards Frank, won't do any harm to search her though, make sure she's not hiding something." One of the players suggested.

"Is that ok with you?" Frank asked Ana.

She felt a little annoyed that she was being put through this routine but didn't see how she had any choice considering she was new in town and didn't want to get on anyone's bad side. Although she wasn't too worried about upsetting Dan anymore than she already had, he was just a bad loser.

Frank spent a couple of minutes searching Ana and eventually decided she had been telling the truth. "Ok, that's it. She doesn't have any cards on her."

"But …" Dan began to protest.

"That's the end of it, Dan. You've seen she's got nothing on her. Now sit here and drink and be quiet or you're out for the day."

"To hell with this, I'm out of here. You're all in it together. I'll get you for this bitch, that's everything I had." Dan shouted as he stood and barged his way through the crowd to the door. Ana couldn't help but give him a little smile and then blew him a kiss.

"Hey that goes for you too, kid. Behave yourself if you're staying in here." Frank said as he turned to Ana who was watching as Dan left the bar.

Moments later everyone had gone back to the business of drinking and minding their own business. Nova appeared moments later at Ana's side.

"Hey, you sure know how to liven things up around here." Nova said with a slight smile.

"He just didn't like losing to a girl more than half his age. I was just sticking up for myself."

"Listen I'm off in half an hour, if you want somewhere to stay for awhile I'll take you to my place and you can meet the family."

"Oh, ok. I've probably had enough for today anyway. I'm going to have a shocking hangover in the morning."

"Rent is 100 caps a week. Considering how much you've won today it shouldn't be too difficult for you. It's a lot cheaper than one night here and far more comfortable than staying in one of the common rooms."

"It sounds reasonable, should be good until I find my own place."

An hour later, Ana had met Nova's sizable family. Six sisters, four brothers, her mother, father and grandparents, all living in a large three storey shack that belonged to her and Frank. She had lasted about an hour before the alcohol had finally taken effect and she had fallen asleep. Nova and one of her elder brothers had carried Ana up to the spare bed in Nova's room. Nova undressed her and put her to bed. She placed a metal bucket beside the bed, ready for when Ana woke up and spilled her guts out if she was feeling particularly hung-over.

Nova placed Ana's backpack and water containers in an old locker by her bed. It would undoubtedly be cramped for awhile but with the size of her family she was used to it, and besides it would be good to have another female close to her own age around the house. All her sisters were considerably younger. And only one of her brothers was older than her. He, like his father was a hunter. Molerats and wild Brahmin were plentiful around Megaton and provided the family and the rest of the town with a steady supply of meat.

Ana slept soundly, completely oblivious to the hangover she was going to have in the morning. But she had enjoyed herself and had won big at cards. Nova stood at the side of the bed looking down. She smiled and laughed quietly to herself, she had the feeling that Ana was going to be someone she would be hearing a lot about in the months ahead. She wasn't quite sure why but she was certain that the young woman was going to make things at least a little interesting around Megaton. She turned and walked towards the door.

"Goodnight, Ana. I'll see you in the morning." Nova said before making her way back downstairs to her waiting and curious family who were only too interested in the young woman that was now sharing their home.

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	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Ana awoke to the sound of shouting. She had to try and remember where she was. Children's screams echoed throughout the room as small footsteps ran around and around. She ventured a gaze over the top of the blankets to see four young children, two boys and two girls playing a game of tag. Although they were doing a fair amount of screaming and laughing in the process and seemed completely oblivious or uncaring that Ana was trying to sleep.

Then she noticed the two large dogs lying across her on her bed. They looked sleepy as though they weren't bothered by the noise and raised their heads curiously to see what was going on before going back to sleep. Then she noticed just how bad her head throbbed with the pain of her hangover. She had brief flashes of the evening before and vaguely remembered winning lots of caps at cards. And someone called Dan accusing her of cheating. She looked across the room to the other bed and vaguely recollected seeing the man before who was laying on top of it. Frank nodded his head and smiled.

"Finally woke up then, kid. We thought you were going to sleep another day." Frank said as he glanced leisurely through an old magazine.

Ana remembered coming home with Nova and then falling asleep, how she got into bed was a mystery. She looked under the blankets and noticed she was naked except for her underwear. She pulled the blankets up to her chin and felt her head swimming and her belly churning as she raised her hand instinctively to her mouth and gagged.

"There's a bucket beside the bed if you need to throw up." Frank said with a laugh.

Ana leant over the side of the bed. She was just in time before a sudden burst of liquid shot through her lips and into the bucket. For thirty seconds she heaved up the contents of her stomach. She raised her sweating head, her eyes watering and vomit trickled down the side of her mouth. The room span around as she tried to steady herself and then she quietly vowed that she would never consume another drop of alcohol as long as she lived, knowing at the same time she would break her vow the first opportunity that presented itself.

"How long have I been asleep?" Ana asked quietly.

"All last night and all of today. Its night again now. Nova said to look after you if you ever woke up. So what can I get you?" Frank asked. The amusement only too clear as the expression on his face was one of wicked joy at the sight of Ana dealing with her hangover.

"I don't think I could keep anything down." Ana said with uncertainty as she watched the group of children run from the room chasing each other and continuing their seemingly deafening cacophony of screams, shouts and laughter, none of which helped her poor headache. She couldn't help but feel desperately sorry for herself.

She tried moving her legs but struggled under the wait of the two large hounds. Frank noticed her discomfort and called to the dogs.

"Duke, Princess come here." Frank shouted as the two dogs leapt off the bed and over to their master who stroked them and fed them scraps of Brahmin steak from his own plate. They fed hungrily, their tails wagging constantly as Frank fussed over them like they were his own children.

"Thanks. Their quite big, what do you feed them on?" Ana asked without caring about the answer, she was just glad she could move and get some circulation into her aching limbs.

"Everyone in this house eats well, including the dogs. We don't have much but we make sure nobody goes hungry." Frank said proudly, happy with the fact that he could help to provide for Nova's large family.

"I think I need to get up. I was supposed to be finding work today, not sleeping the day away." Ana said warily, wanting nothing more than to rest her wary head and sleep for the rest of the week.

"There's no hurry. You paid Nova for a week here, so rest easy for awhile. You don't look like you're in any fit state to go wandering around town. And while I think about it. You should be careful for awhile. Dan isn't going to let it go quickly, you beating him at cards."

"Oh him, I can barely remember anything." Ana protested as she forced herself to think over the events of the night before.

"He's not the sort to let it go and he's got a few friends who wouldn't think twice about roughing up a young woman to get his money back." Frank said with a hint of concern in his voice.

"They sound like a charming bunch. Obviously chivalry is long gone and dead in Megaton." Ana said with sarcastic tone to her words.

"Hell's balls, girl. Chivalry, you've got to be joking. Most folks don't give a molerat's ass about crap like that. It's survival of the fittest and take care of number one. Where the hell do you think you are?" Frank questioned incredulously.

"I was being sarcastic, Frank. I need to get up. I can't afford to lie around here all day long." Ana complained, although her body cried out in protest.

"Your clothes are in the locker by your bed if you insist on getting up. I'll have Maggie make you some dinner if you're ready for it." Frank said with a grin.

"I don't think so, thanks but no thanks. Who's Maggie?" Ana asked with a hint of curiosity.

"Nova's ma. You met her last night, just before you decided to strip off and dance on the table. Frank said as he chuckled to himself. He was soon laughing at the top of his voice when he noticed the expression on Ana's face.

"No, I didn't … I can't have … I don't remember a thing …" Ana stuttered trying hard to remember and struggling to get her words out.

"Don't worry it was amusing and quite revealing." Frank continued to laugh.

"But … I … I'll have to apologise … I can't believe I would do such a thing … Especially in front of Nova's family?" Ana continued to struggle to find an explanation for it and then noticed just how loudly Frank was laughing at her.

"Don't worry, I was only joking. But it was worth it to see the expression on your face." Frank said through loud laughter that didn't do much to ease her aching head.

"You … I …" For once Ana was lost for words and just didn't know what to say.

"Seriously though, if you want something to eat or drink just say the word. She'll be only too happy to prepare it for you. You actually made quite a good impression despite being blind drunk." Frank said finally, just to ease her mind.

"I'll be fine for now. I'm going to get up, can you leave the room for a moment." Ana asked as she blushed slightly.

"You've got to be joking. You're worried about me seeing you in your underwear." Frank laughed.

"Well, yes. I don't want you …"

"Want me what? Looking at you half naked?" Frank said with a snigger.

"Exactly, I need a bit of privacy." Ana complained.

"So I guess that threesome I mentioned to Nova is out of the question." Frank said confidently, his face deadly serious as Ana listened.

Ana was shocked. Even though Nova had said he might say suggest such a thing. She had thought Nova was only joking.

"I … I …" Ana tried to find some words to complain but was dumbstruck and simply couldn't think of anything to say, although her blushes gave away her true feelings.

"Oh well, never mind. Perhaps we can talk about it again later. I've got to get to work. See you at Moriarty's place if you make it out of here tonight." Frank said as he pulled on a shirt covering over his tattooed, muscular body.

Within a few minutes he had gone, leaving Ana lying on her bed and nursing her hangover.

Ana had taken over half an hour just to get dressed. She took the bucket of vomit over to the bathroom and poured it out, the mere sight of it threatening to start her off again. She placed it back beside the bed after rinsing it out. She made her way gingerly downstairs and suddenly all eyes were on her.

Ana spent the following hour getting to know Nova's family before Joseph, Nova's father decided to ask her about hunting.

"I guess you'll be looking for some way of earning a few caps while you're in Megaton, Ana?" Joseph questioned as he cleaned his hunting rifle at the dining table. All manner of tools, cloths and cleaning fluids spread around the table.

"Yes, I was thinking about asking around town. Maybe trying some caravan guard work or something like that." Ana replied cluelessly. She didn't actually know what she was going to do.

"You want to get yourself a bit of experience of the wasteland first, Ana. I'll tell you what. Come with me and Jacob here, when we go out tomorrow and I'll teach you how to hunt and skin whatever you catch. We go after molerats and wild Brahmin. I've got an old hunting rifle you can use, and lets say you bring back five molerats, you get to keep the rifle for yourself. Bring back ten molerats and I'll throw in fifty caps for your hard work." Joseph said as he continued to lovingly go about the maintenance of the weapon with care and consideration.

Jacob looked up from his chair as he passed his father a cleaning rag. Ana reckoned he must be about twenty eight to thirty, just a bit older than Nova. He was quite handsome she immediately noted, and had looked after himself. He ran his hand through the week old stubble on his chin and raised his own hunting rifle and began the same process as his father.

"You want to bring this little girl with us, pa? Ain't no place for a woman, let ma show her how to prepare a meal for when we return." Jacob said seriously as he looked Ana up and down, seemingly weighing up the young woman.

"I'm sure I could manage if you can do it, Jacob. I bet I bring back more molerats than you." Ana said defiantly, although she was unsure what she was letting herself in for. Jacob simply laughed.

"Did you here that, pa? This little girl thinks she can bring back more rats than me." Jacob said through fits of laughter, which only made Ana more determined.

"I'm not a little girl and I'll show you, when do we go?" Ana said determined to prove herself.

"We'll start out in the morning, at dawn. Pack for the day, we wont be back until dark." Joseph replied, seemingly quite satisfied that he had talked Ana into coming along.

In truth he had heard about her trouble with Dan in Moriarty's Place. He had never liked the man and had decided young Ana could do with learning a few things about how to defend herself properly. He had no doubt that the next time she came up against Dan and his cronies, she would be alone and out of the way.

Ana spent the next three hours learning how to maintain a hunting rifle and handling the old rifle that Joseph was allowing her to use. Frank and Nova arrived late into the night to find the three of them working at the table with everyone else long since having gone to bed. Frank searched around in one of the store rooms and returned with a small keg of homemade cider. They all drank late into the night, although Ana limited herself to three pints, the others drank until the barrel was empty. Finally they all went to bed, leaving only Nova and Ana still talking.

Before Ana knew it, it was morning and Maggie was downstairs preparing the packs for Joseph and Jacob. The three of them had their breakfast and were ready to leave. Ana slung her pack over her shoulder, enough food and water to last her for the day. Joseph took five hundred round of ammunition for the rifles and divided them up into two piles of two hundred rounds and one of a hundred rounds. He fetched three small bags and placed the piles of bullets in each bag, handing one with two hundred to Jacob and one with a hundred to Ana, while taking the third for himself.

They spent twenty minutes preparing the wagon, a large wooden cart pulled by one of the two headed Brahmin that she had seen so many of around the town. Ana climbed up into the back of the wagon, while Joseph and Jacob sat up front. They took the wagon through the main gate and out of Megaton and began slowly working their way to their regular hunting grounds.

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Ana lay on her stomach, crawling forward through the brush to the cover of a large pile of rocks. Joseph and Jacob were in cover already waiting for Ana to get the targets sighted down her sights. Ana felt immediately at a disadvantage, the two men both had scopes and were looking down them at the group of thirty or more molerats they had spotted. Ana had to make do with the rifle's own sights, and knew immediately that she was going to struggle to bring in more kills than Jacob. He smiled at her knowingly, and then went back to lining up his first target.

Ana noted the molerats were all the size of dogs, plenty of meat on their bones to feed the family and any they had extra could be sold to the many merchants around Megaton. The town relied on hunters like those of Nova's family to survive, only by bringing in the vast amounts of meat from the wasteland was the growing population able to keep from starving. Luckily there never seemed an end to the fast breeding mutated rats that was the main meal for most in the town. When they got lucky, it was prime Brahmin steak, but that sold for nearly five times the cost of molerat.

Ana looked up at the slowly rising sun, already it was shining down on the dusty baked earth below. She readied her aim, steadying the rifle as it rested on the rock in front of her.

Two shots rang out across the open plain, at two hundred metres both shots found their target.

"Wait until they get closer, Ana. No point in wasting ammunition." Joseph said as he prepared for a second shot. Ana nodded in agreement as the pack of molerats seemed to turn as one towards the source of the noise.

It was steady at first, the onrush of bloated rats charging forwards. The occasional shot rang out to take another down. They were within one hundred metres now. The two hunters had already dropped fifteen, Joseph seven, Jacob eight. Ana frustrated with waiting risked a shot, it flew wide of the mark. She aimed and fired again, this time it just grazed the leg of the molerat she was aiming at. She steadied her aim and fired a third time, this time it took the molerat in the eye, she couldn't help herself and whooped with joy as the two men finished off the rest of the rats before they managed to reach them.

"I reckon I got seventeen, this time, pa." Jacob said smiling.

"Fourteen for me, son." Joseph said as he began walking towards their kills.

"I got one." Ana shouted enthusiastically. Both men laughed until they were red in the face, much to Ana's annoyance. She was quite proud of the fact that she had hit her target.

"You'll have a lot more than that before the day's finished, young lady." Joseph said as he walked over to the nearest of the rats and began walking back to the wagon with it under his arm.

It took twenty minutes to load the thirty two molerats onto the wagon and then they were off to the next hunting site. That day the two men brought in three hundred and thirty four molerats, their kills piled high in the back of the wagon. Ana had managed twenty two kills by the end of the day, much to her delight. The men had encouraged and congratulated her as she grew gradually more effective with the rifle, until she needed no more prompting. She knew she had a long way to go before she matched the two hunters, but for a first day she was happy with her kills.

Later that evening they had come upon four wild Brahmin grazing in a rare patchy field of grass. The two men had taken two of the beasts each while Ana looked on. It took two hours to skin the beasts and cut up the chunks of meat. Both congratulated the other and gave Ana friendly slaps on the back as they counted the wagon's load in caps. It was the best day's hunting they had had for months and would mean they could feed their family for the next month with no problems and still some of the meat could be sold to traders and merchants. Now they had to get back to town quickly, before the other hunters returned with the days catch. They wanted to be first in and get the best prices.

"Well, what do you think, Ana, is this the kind of life you could settle for?" Joseph asked with a cheerful grin. The wagon rolled forwards on its way back to Megaton, they had a few miles to travel but it should take no more than an hour before they were back in town.

"I think I could get used to it. I've enjoyed myself. It's good to think we are helping Megaton to keep going by bringing in the meat everyone needs to survive." Ana said thoughtfully, giving a reason for her efforts.

"I suppose you could put it like that. But don't sell it short, Ana. It's worth the caps too. I reckon five molerats for the rifle, and one hundred and seventy caps for the other seventeen molerats you killed. See, it's been a profitable day for your first hunt. Wait until your bringing back hundreds of the blighters. They're never seems to be an end to them either, breed like rats they do." Joseph said, chuckling to himself as he thought of the caps he'd earn for himself and the family. Not that it was before time. The way the family was growing he reckoned they needed another floor to extend the house before it burst at the seams.

Joseph counted the caps. Two thousand five hundred caps and enough molerat and Brahmin steak to feed the family for the next month. The traders and merchants had snapped up the meat hungrily, ready to sell it on to their customers for a greater profit. Ana had haggled for her own kills, and had managed to talk the merchant up to two hundred caps. Not to mention the fact that she now had a perfectly good hunting rifle. The three of them set about storing the meat in the family's cold storage locker. They were met by a cheerful faces as they brought the meat home, and Maggie hugged her husband lovingly as he showed her the caps they had made.

"We'll eat well for the next month, Maggie." Joseph said with a laugh as he clung to his wife. She kissed him on the cheek and then wriggled free as she went about preparing the night's meal for the whole family.

By the end of the month, Ana had managed to collect over three thousand caps. Her good luck at cards continued and she had Moriarty's private game in sight, she just needed to get another two thousand caps. She was unsure it was a wise thing to do, risking all her caps on a card game, and didn't even know if she could get an invite, but it would be worth it if she could manage to win. But she was getting restless too. She had spent a month learning all there was to know about hunting molerats and wild Brahmin and now had other things within her sights.

She walked from the store, five hundred rounds of ammunition for her hunting rifle and two hundred for her pistols. She had not wanted to part with the caps, but she realised she couldn't expect Joseph to keep supplying her with ammunition when she was making a fair wage herself.

She had come to know the people of Megaton over the past month and now thought of them as her friends and neighbours as much as those she had left behind in the Vault. She was going to a meeting with Sheriff Lucas Simms and his brother Ryan. There was talk of going into the nearby ruined town of Springvale, although she didn't know the details. The meeting was being held in Moriarty's Place, much to the old misers delight.

She walked into the crowded barroom, about fifty men and a handful of women were crowded into the bar to here what the sheriff had to say. Nova waved to Ana as she entered the bar.

"I'll keep this short folks. I know most of you want to get on with your drinking. As you all know, Megaton is bursting at the seams and growing every day. We can hardly make room for the people who are coming to our little town to make their home here. I reckon at last count we had over three hundred and fifty people resident in our little town. About a hundred or more of them are children.

Now as you know, Miss Jessica Wright and her fellow teachers and educated folk think it high time we used that empty school we've been building for the past two years. Problem is we ain't got nearly enough books and things to fill the place. We can trade for some of the stuff that we need but that ain't going to be nearly enough to open the school within the next month. So what we were thinking is that an expedition into Springvale, more precisely the school is needed. Now we don't know if there is anything left in there, but it can't do any harm to try and find out. The big problem is that Springvale has been taken over by bloodthirsty murdering scum raiders.

I see it like this. We can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. We can see what's left in the school and we can rid the area of robbing, raping, murdering filth." Lucas said as looked around the room for a response.

"You got to be crazy, Lucas, if you think we can just walk into that place. They'll skin us alive, rob us, rape us and eat us before you know what's hit you, and not necessarily in that order. They're killers, Lucas, ain't know way we can take on the Springvale raiders." Oliver Aikens shouted across the room, slurping his ale between words as he waved his arm around to try and make his point.

"All it takes for those bastards to win and finally drive us out of Megaton is for good men to do absolutely nothing. We can take them. I reckon twenty of us, with enough firepower can go into Springvale and rid the place of raiders. Now who's with me?" Lucas asked hopefully, but realistically he didn't expect to find twenty men willing to risk their lives for books and honour.

Ana looked around the room as the place exploded into a chorus of increasingly louder shouts and conversations. Most of it either directed at Lucas or talking about him. The general mood of the place was that he was crazy for wanting to risk their lives against the raiders. About five minutes passed before things calmed enough for Lucas to speak once again.

"All I need is a show of hands, who's with us?" Lucas asked.

Ana looked around the room, it wasn't long before she felt disappointment that only six hands were raised.

"Six of you, is that it? Surely you can see we need to do this. Some of you here have children, if you won't do it for yourselves, then do it for them." Lucas pleaded, not quite believing that so few would risk their lives.

"And who's going to feed our wives and kids if we die, this is just not worth the risk." A man shouted from the crowd. Ana couldn't seem to help herself and raised her hand.

"Look, even the girl is willing to go with us." Lucas said, hoping it would inspire others.

"Then she's as stupid as the rest of you." Someone shouted from the crowd. Ana couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

Despite his best efforts, Lucas couldn't get anyone else to join him. Two of those who had put their hands up changed their minds when they saw how few were willing to go. That left the two Simms brothers, four others and Ana. Seven was hardly going to be enough Lucas thought to himself. But he was committed now, and knew that it had to be done.

Early the next day Lucas had the small group meet up at his offices in the jail. He divided between them what ammunition he could spare for the hunting rifles and the assault rifles. Ana checked her pistol and combat knife making certain they were secure. The rest of the group readied themselves. The mood was surprisingly good and optimistic. Ana looked out of the window at the large crowd that had been gathering since before dawn. Most of them thought this was the last time they would ever see the sheriff and the group he was taking with him.

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Jo looked around her desperately, her arms were held tight by chains and shackles that had been hammered into the wall. She felt her shirt tear as it was ripped from her back. Cold clammy hands moved over her back, caressing her with all the perverted pleasure that Spider could muster. As gang leader he got the pick of the slaves. They had brought in a group of travellers only last night and Jo was one of them. They were looking to start a new life in Rivet City. The group of twenty or more had set out from the north about ten miles from Springvale, abandoning their village in the hope they could reach Rivet City.

Only six remained now. All the men had been killed, the older women too. Jo and three other young women along with two teenage girls were all that remained of the party. Jo felt horrified as her belt was undone and her trousers ripped down, resting at her ankles. She felt something separate her thighs and cried out in disgust and horror and what these savages intended to do.

Spider stepped back, taking the whip handle from between the girl's legs and lashed out with the weapon. The girl screamed loudly as the whip tore into her skin. Again and again he lashed her with a frenzy that showed off his growing insanity. His gang cheered, all stood around, threatening the other women and girls with the same fate as they huddled together in the makeshift cells. Jo heard the quick rush of feet behind her as Spider dropped the whip and proceeded to lay into her back with his bare fists.

The screams were terrible and the others were crying and sobbing at the sight of such cruelty. All they had wanted was somewhere safe to live. Jo wondered what they had done to deserve such a terrible fate. She felt Spider's tongue trace a line down her cheek, his hands reaching around to grab at her breasts. She screamed again trying to shake him off which only seemed to enrage the crazy gang leader.

"Shackle those other bitches. They're gonna know who's boss by the time I've finished with these little sluts." He said. Spitting out his words as the injection of Jet ran through his body, heightening his senses and giving him the high that he craved and needed.

The others were lined up along the wall, their arms shackled like Jo. The laughter and crudity of their suggestions made Jo want to die, she couldn't let them touch her but how could she stop them. How could she stop them from hurting her younger sister? Amy was only just sixteen and she knew that somehow she had to protect her, but how?

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Lucas led the group until they were within two hundred metres of the old school in Springvale. They hunched down in the ruins of an old building, even from here they had heard the shouting and screaming. Whatever was going on had to stop. Lucas wouldn't let these bastards hurt anyone else if he could stop them.

Ana was amazed at just how angry she felt. She had no idea what was going on the old school but from the sound of it, it wasn't pleasant for somebody. She readied her rifle, prepared for the word to go. Lucas led them forward. They had seen no sign of guards posted outside the building. These arrogant bastards would die, Lucas promised himself that.

They were outside of the building when the next round of screams and pleas for mercy began. Lucas looked each of them in the eye for any sign of doubt. All of them were ready to go.

Lucas took the door handle in his hand and pulled it wide. He raised his gun to fire and all hell erupted.

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	5. Chapter 5

I've finally got back to playing Fallout 3 so I've decided to give this story another try. Thanks for reading and reviewing and for those favourites and alerts. Thanks to The Man Apart for his message, which made me want to dust off my copy of the game and start playing again, I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Let me know what you think, and how it can be improved.

Chapter 4

Wily Wild Willie Jones, as he was known to his friends, was the first to take his shot, the veteran and now retired mercenary took the raider between the eyes with a well placed blast from his assault rifle. All eyes suddenly turned to the onrushing intruders, Ana seemed to think that time itself slowed down as the startled and extremely drugged up raiders stared in surprise and astonishment and were slow to react as Sheriff Simms fired a short burst, three shots fired and three hits. Spider looked on even as the blood and brain matter spilt out of his skull, he seemed to stagger forward at first, and then he dropped face first onto the litter strewn floor. He was dead before he even knew what hit him. The rest of the raiders panicked as their leader fell. Many went in search of their weapons, which they had propped up against walls and lain on the floor while they took pleasure from the sadistic torment and torture of their victims.

Ana steadied her aim and fired, a Mohican adorned raider with a face full of metal studs, rings and chains screamed in agony as he received a shot to the gut and then another to the upper chest. He ran forward screaming and shouting, a club taken from his belt was raised ready to smash into Ana's head. The raider was met by a swift blow to the jaw from Ryan Simms, who turned his assault rifle and smashed it into the raiders face. The man went down still howling, Ana shot him in the throat, and was suddenly stunned by the fact that she had probably just killed a man, the first human she had ever killed. The thought was one of quiet despair and a little exhilaration at the prospect of ending this evil bastard's life. She looked up and without hesitation fired at another.

The massacre that followed was a sight to behold. The raiders simply gave up and tried to run, there was no thought or hesitation about shooting them in the back as they retreated. A lucky return shot caught Willie in the gut and Sammy Li was dealt a vicious blow with a machete as he waded in with a pair of combat knives. But neither men would die if they received treatment soon enough. In the end only three of the fifteen raiders remained, all had dropped to their knees and were now begging for mercy. The Black Widow Raiders of Springvale were no more, just this pathetic remnant of a once much feared gang. The three seemed like they were the junior members of the gang, pressed into service when their caravans were raided and they were taken prisoner at a young age, they had known no other family for many years.

The three youths, a boy and two girls, looked on in horror as their fellow gang members were taken down in front of their eyes. They had believed them unbeatable. But the intruders had dispatched them easily, leaving a bloody picture of murderous rage painted across the walls, floor and ceiling of the school entrance hall. Nobody had paid much attention to the hysterical screaming of the six captives, still chained to the wall. Miraculously none of them seemed to have been hit by stray bullets. Only with the realisation of the pitiful scene before them did Ana seek to comfort the young women and girls. She looked on as Lucas and Ryan went to each of the raiders in turn and fired a single shot into each of their skulls, making sure they were dead. The three remaining raiders looked on in terror as they thought that would be their fate too.

"What about them, Lucas?" Ryan asked as he aimed his assault rifle at the boy's head.

"Wait. We'll take them back to Megaton, they're just kids, maybe they're worth saving" Lucas said. Although he seemed to be questioning the wisdom of taking raiders into Megaton with a quiet look of uncertainty. Ana watched his expression and knew he wasn't exactly happy at the prospect.

"To hell with that, Lucas. I've been gut shot by these little bastards. I say they go the same way as their scum friends." Willie said as he slid down the wall, clutching his stomach as thick red blood oozed through his fingers.

"We're not animals, Willie. We don't kill kids." Lucas said, although he could see why the old mercenary was so upset and wanted a little revenge.

"We can't just kill them." Ana said as she looked at the pathetic sight of the pleading raiders.

"Please don't kill us, we didn't have a choice, they would have killed us if …" The boy began explaining before he was interrupted.

"How many people have you killed, boy? Did you show them any mercy?" Willie asked as he winced through the pain in his stomach.

"We didn't have a choice." One of the girls pleaded. "They made us do horrible things. They killed our parents." She explained as tears ran down her cheeks as she broke into fits of sobbing.

"Lucas, we've got to take them back. They're younger than me, you can't kill them." Ana insisted with a forceful tone, not liking where the current conversation was going.

"I heard you the first time, little missy. I've got no intention of killing them. But they go straight to the cells until the town council meets and decides what we are going to do with them." Lucas explained but was annoyed that Ana thought he would allow them to be killed in cold blood.

"That's three more mouths to feed, Lucas. There ain't no sense in risking everyone in Megaton over misplaced sensibilities." Willie said, but he was looking a little pale and Lucas could tell he needed to be taken back to Megaton quickly so the Doc could remove the bullet and patch the old veteran up. Sammy Li had lost an ear and his wound was looking bad enough that he could lose a lot of blood if he wasn't seen to soon. Jed and Scooter Tucker looked on silently, the pair of old hunters were usually quiet and rarely spoke in public.

"He's got a point, Lucas. They are gonna need feeding and watching. The boys have got enough on without having to baby-sit prisoners." Ryan said, although he was not certain he could kill the three kids if it was decided he should be the one to do it.

"It's my decision bro. We'll take them back, give them a trial and see what the council decides. Ain't any other decision I can make and still sleep soundly at night, I'm no child killer Ryan." Lucas said with a hint of determination as he became more convinced that it was the only decision he could make.

"We need to get Willie and Sammy back to Megaton before they bleed to death, let the Doc patch them up. I'll go back with Jed and Scooter, and take the walking wounded with us. You and the girl can stay and make sure the place is empty and see what we can salvage from this dump." Ryan said to his brother.

"Ok, sounds like a good plan. Take the prisoners and get those girls unchained and have the Doc look over them all, we'll have to decide where they're going to stay later. Six more mouths to feed." Lucas said as he looked over the young women chained to the wall.

"He's got the key to our chains." Jo said as she gestured towards the dead gang leader.

Ana went over and searched through the bloody mess that was Bertram 'Spider' Newell. She found the key in his pocket and then one by one she unchained the weeping women. Jo fixed her clothing then ran over to Ana and threw her arms around the slightly bemused girl. She showered her cheek with kisses like some long lost aunt, thanking her constantly and swearing like Ana had never heard anyone swear about the dead raiders.

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Two hours later Lucas and Ana were finished searching the old school.

"Well that's it, little missy. This place is empty of raider scum."

"My name's Ana or Anastasia, not little missy." Ana said annoyed at the sheriff's belittling tone.

"Alright girly, don't get all uppity." Lucas said with a sly grin.

"I killed my first man today." Ana said, seemingly out of the blue as she suddenly changed subjects.

"The first one is always the hardest. But don't let it worry you too much, he wasn't a good man. Think of all the people he had hurt and would have hurt. Think of those girls and what he would have done to them if we hadn't arrived. Don't waste sorrow and regrets on the likes of that bloody scum." Lucas explained sincerely as he looked at the expression on the girl's face and that knowing look of there being no return from here, no way back now the deed was done.

They wandered back to the entrance hallway and began searching the bodies for weapons, ammunition and anything else that could be used back in Megaton. By the time they were done they had 3 assault rifles, 7 hunting rifles, 2 scoped hunting rifles, 8 pistols and over two thousand rounds for the various weapons.

"It's a good thing we surprised them, Lucas. If they had the drop on us they would have killed us for sure." Ana said, suddenly realizing what they had done and how lucky they had been that things hadn't gone much worse.

"Well you two look cosy, anything I should know about?" Ryan said as he walked through the door.

"Funny, I hope you've brought some help, this place is still full of stuff. There are plenty of chairs and tables. There are even some books and toys, just what the school needs to get it running." Lucas said, pleased that Jessica would be happy with what they had found. It might even move the wedding forward a little. Ever since his wife had died from the fever, he had been a little lost, but the young school teacher Jessica Wright had taken more than a little interest in the sheriff and they had been seeing each other for over a year, perhaps now they would be finally married, Lucas could only hope.

Lucas and Ana watched as the entrance hall began to fill with people from Megaton, they were only too happy to help out now the danger was over.

"Sure have, Lucas. We've got five wagons outside waiting to be loaded up. I hope it was worth it."

"It was worth it just to get rid of that scum, they've been preying on caravans for the past six months."

"I hope Willie and Sammy agree with you."

"They knew the risks, Ryan."

It took the rest of the day to empty the school of everything that could be used, but everyone seemed in good cheer that the school would finally be up and running once all this stuff was back in Megaton. Jessica gave Lucas a warm lingering kiss on the lips as she came back from inside the school. He looked at Ana as if to say don't you dare say anything. Although he still seemed a little embarrassed that his tough image was being compromised.

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Ana looked through the pile of weapons that had been piled high on Lucas Simms desk in his office.

"Just take what you want, Ana." Lucas insisted.

She took an old assault rifle and three hundred rounds of ammunition for it.

"Can I take a scope off one of those hunting rifles?"

"You can take the whole rifle, least we can do for you risking your neck today." Lucas said with a smile.

"I'll just take the scope. I've already got a good rifle. I'll get Joseph to fit it properly and make sure everything is ok."

"While I think about it, the town council took up a collection for everyone who went to the school today, you're share is three hundred and eighty six caps."

"Forget it, Lucas. I did this to help the town."

"Are you sure? Nobody expects you to do this for nothing."

"I've been paid, this weapon and the ammunition and scope. The town needs it more than I do."

"Thanks, Ana, you're a good kid. Everyone else refused as well. We'll use some of it to pay for Willie and Sammy's care while they're at the Doc's. The rest we'll give back to the council."

"It feels good doesn't it, Lucas?"

"What?"

"Helping the town. I know we had to kill people, but it still seems like we've done a good thing."

"Hell yes it feels good. I've been here for a lot of years, Ana and I never get tired of this place, I'd die for it and the people in it, my people."

"Where are the girls we freed?"

"Some families agreed to take them in. They'll be fine here. We'll take care of them like they are our own kin."

"And what about the prisoners?"

"They're downstairs in the cells. The council is meeting tomorrow to discuss what we are going to do with them."

"I think I'll take my stuff back to Nova's and then head over to Moriarty's for a beer, fancy joining me for a few, Lucas?"

"Nope thanks but I got to get home to Jessica, she'll have my hide if I'm late tonight."

"Things are pretty serious between you two aren't they?"

"Sure are. Should be getting married sometime, I hope."

"I hope I'm around to see it."

"Why, are you planning on going somewhere?" Lucas asked curiously.

"Sooner or later I've got to think about finding my father. It's been a month since I left the vault and I've made no attempt to even find out where he went. Apparently Moriarty might know something, but I'm weary about dealing with him. Or I'm just plain scared about what I would say to my father once I find him. He didn't exactly give me the chance to say goodbye."

"Just be careful if you're planning on dealing with that old scoundrel, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could spit."

"I'll be careful."

"While I think about it, it's time I gave you this."

Ana looked down at the silver key in the sheriff's hand.

"What's this for?"

"I was going to give it to whoever disabled that damn bomb in the middle of town. But I guess what you did today is worth trying to get you to stick around. It's old man Dewey's old place. He's dead and buried now and had a sizeable debt to the town. So the council agreed that you could take the place."

"What about the bomb?"

"It'll keep until someone with the know-how takes a look at it. No point in blowing us all to hell through my impatience to get the damn thing disabled."

"I'll see if I can find someone, I'd try myself if I knew anything about disarming bombs but I haven't got a clue."

"Do you think you'll stay on in Megaton now?"

"I think so. I'll probably still decide to look for my father, but it will be good to have somewhere to call my own for a change. Not that I'm not grateful to Nova and her family, but they're a bit crowded over there and it will be nice to have my own space."

"I'm glad to hear it, Megaton always needs good people. Trouble is we are bursting at the seams. Another thirty arrived today, buts there's no room for them even in the common rooms. They've had to set up camp outside."

"It sounds like you need to expand the town."

"We knew we'd have to sooner or later, we just didn't expect it to come so soon, but beyond Megaton, Rivet City and Canterbury Commons there isn't any sizable settlements that can provide food, water, shelter and protection.

"Let me know if there's anything I can do." Ana said, wondering how she could help out.

"I can think of a couple of things. The Doc needs an assistant. I figured since you must have got some education in that vault of yours, you might know enough to act as his nurse. If you don't fancy that, what about helping out at the school, Jessica seemed impressed when I told her how you had helped out, but she said a better place for a young lady would be in the class room helping her to teach Megaton's kids about the Wasteland and giving them an education. If you fancy something a little more physical, I'm looking to set on another deputy or two, this place is becoming a handful for the four of us and could do with a few more. There's also the Megaton militia. About twenty strong at the moment, they keep this place protected from the scum of the wasteland."

"They all sound ok, Lucas. But I'm not committing myself to anything until I've found my father and decided just what it is I'm supposed to do now I'm out of the vault. Besides I enjoy hunting with Jacob and Joseph, and I've thought about signing on with some of the caravans as a guard. When I've had some more experience I fancy joining the regulators or maybe even the Brotherhood of Steel."

"Slow down young lady. Are you trying to get yourself killed? You ain't even seen a Super Mutant let alone faced one in combat. Let me tell you, those bastards are even worse than the raiders, and then there's hells bastards themselves, the damn Enclave. You need I lot more skill before you go up against that scum. Just think about what I said, Megaton needs people like you, Ana. It would be a shame if we're going to your funeral if there's even a body left to find if you start messing around with the big boys."

"I guess your right, let me think about it. I really need to put my feet up and have a few drinks, Lucas. Thanks for the key, it's great to have somewhere of my own."

"See you later kid."

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	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

"Hey, Gob, how's it going?" Ana asked cheerfully as she waited patiently at the bar of Moriarty's while Gob stared across the room at Nova with a misty look in his eyes, one of longing and desire.

At least that was what she thought. He certainly seemed to be eyeing Nova with something a little more than friendly curiosity. There was a look of lustful longing in his eyes and Ana was certain Nova would feel more than a little uncomfortable with such unwanted attention. She was used to being the object of men's desires, but that was purely sex, and sex was business as far as she was concerned. The last thing she would want is someone lusting after her with something more than a good time on their mind. Not to mention the fact that though Nova liked Gob and they were indeed friends, having a relationship with a ghoul, wasn't exactly something that would appeal to most women, even prostitutes, although their were undoubtedly exceptions.

Gob continued his lustful gaze and seemed lost in deep thought. Ana leant over the bar and shook his arm.

"Hey, Gob, are you with us, can I get a drink over here?" Ana said with a cheery grin.

"Oh sorry, Ana, I was just …, well you know, thinking what if things were different and I … Nevermind, I'm just rambling, lost in thought. What will you have?"

"I'll have two bottles of cold beer and a double shot of Old Rotgut Whiskey, Get us a Brahmin steak sandwich as well. She handed him the caps and sat at the bar looking around the surprisingly empty bar. It was the quietest she had seen it since arriving a month ago after leaving the vault.

Gob arrived with the drinks and placed them down on the bar. Then went into the back room, a few minutes later he arrived with a thick wedge of crusty bread and a pile of chewy Brahmin steak, with a side salad of dubious looking vegetables that Ana was eyeing suspiciously as she turned them over looking for bugs or rot. The meal was clean and Ana suddenly felt ravenous at the sight of the food. She placed one slice of bread and covered it in meat and salad then topped it up with another slice taking a large bite from the sandwich, it was delicious, if a little chewy. She took one of the bottles of beer and downed it in one gulp. She placed the bottle on the bar and took a sip of the Rotgut.

"Good appetite today, Ana. What have you got planned for tonight?" Gob asked inquiringly with a genuine look of friendly interest.

"I don't know yet, Gob. Where is everyone anyway? I've never seen this place so dead." Ana asked as she looked around the room at the few regulars who were outnumbered by Moriarty's girls and the five doormen.

"There's a caravan due in town anytime now. Two hundred Brahmin and twenty wagons of goods according to Lucas, he had word they were coming from Canterbury Commons. Everyone's looking to get themselves a good deal. Not to mention Keira Lyons from the Brotherhood of Steel is back in town with a unit of Knights. It looks like they are here to stay. Lucas has done a deal with them. They provide a full ten man unit to protect Megaton and the surrounding area, and Megaton will supply ten recruits a year to the brotherhood, not to mention the Megaton Armoury has had a serious upgrade with brotherhood weapons."

"How do you get to know all this, Gob?"

"You'd be amazed what people tell me. I've got secrets on just about everyone in town. But don't ask me to tell, I'm good at keeping secrets."

"Do you know when the next big card game is on, Gob? I'm still looking to get a place once I have the five thousand caps needed to enter."

"About a weeks time I heard, the players are coming back to Megaton for a long weekend of gambling. Moriarty's all excited because he thinks he's going to clean up. If you ask me, they're all crazy, risking so much on a card game."

"It's a game of skill and luck, of patience and keeping your cool, there's nothing like it, Gob."

"You're as crazy as they are, Ana."

"Maybe, but I intend to get in on that game if I can persuade Moriarty to let me sit in."

Ana finished her sandwich and gulped down the second bottle of beer followed by the Rotgut.

"You've sure got a thirst on today, Ana."

"I'll have the same again, Gob, including another sandwich."

Nova turned and spotted Ana sat at the bar, she walked over and greeted her friend with a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi, Ana. I heard you'll be leaving us soon."

"What do you mean?"

"I heard Lucas gave you the old empty house, so you'll be moving out of our place I guess. You'll certainly be missed, especially by me. It's been like having a sister staying with us."

"Well I'm not going far, Nova. And you're welcome to come around whenever you like, perhaps you and Frank can get away from your place and come over to visit."

"Sounds good, I'll come over with you on my break and we can take a look at the place and see what you'll need to make yourself comfortable in there. I'll see you later, stick around until I'm finished in a couple of hours and we'll check the old place out. I've got to go and see Moriarty now."

"Ok, I'll wait here for you. I should be able to manage a few more beers while I'm waiting."

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Ana fumbled with the key, doing her best to stay upright. The fifteen beers and six double whiskeys she had consumed in the past two hours were already taking their toll and Nova was forced to hold her friend upright and wrestled the key from her. Nova held onto Ana with one arm while opening the door with her other hand. Ana stumbled forward and almost fell flat on her face as Nova struggled to keep a grip of the younger woman. The stairs were a nightmare to navigate with the dead weight that was Ana, but eventually Nova managed to get her to the top of the stairs and into the bedroom. She lowered her onto the bed. The giggling young woman found it all very amusing as the room seemed to spin at an incredible rate. She grabbed Nova around the neck and before Nova could say anything she had planted a long lingering kiss on Nova's lips. Nova pulled away and laughed at her young friend.

"You're going to regret that in the morning." Nova said as Ana lay back on the bed and began fumbling with her clothes.

"Regret what, can't I give a friend a kiss."

"Not like that, that's a kiss for lovers."

"Well be my lover then." Ana said with a giggle as Nova looked at her and couldn't help but laugh at the suggestion.

"Now I know you've had too much. I think you had better sleep it off."

"No. I want to kiss you again."

"No you don't, you're extremely drunk and will likely be completely embarrassed by this in the morning."

Ana ignored her and began unbuttoning her blouse, before Nova took her hands in her own and pinned her down on the bed.

"Just go to sleep, Ana. I'll be back in the morning to see if you're all right."

Nova was surprised by the young woman's strength and soon found herself flipped over onto her back with Ana sat over her with her arms pinned down and Ana's face only inches away from her own. Ana drew nearer and brushed her lips lightly against Nova's, lingering their for a few minutes until she crushed her lips to her friends, all the time nervously giggling while she did it. Nova was used to heavy handed men, but this was something even new to her. She couldn't help but feel a slight hint of desire for the young woman, even Frank didn't take the time to kiss her nearly enough, or at least not as much as she would have liked. But Ana was her friend and she knew this would be a mistake if she allowed it to go any further. Before she had time to react she felt the hands on her breasts hungrily caressing her and then she knew things were going just a little too fast. She was used to selling sex, not this, this was something different, and however nice it felt, she knew she couldn't let it happen, for the sake of their friendship.

She rolled with all the strength she could muster and winced loudly as Ana went flying over the side of the bed and cracked her head on the side of the set of drawers next to the bed. A gash opened up in the side of Ana's head and she fell unconscious almost instantly. Nova struggled to pull her back on the bed and searched around for something to clean up the gash on her friend's head. She found a towel and wet it in cold water and then placed the towel on Ana's head. It wasn't really a deep cut and would heal quickly, but if the hangover didn't give her a headache, she would certainly have one from the wound.

Nova locked the door behind her and pushed the key under the door. She would return first thing in the morning to see how her friend was doing.

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"Hello, Keira, it's good to see you back in Megaton. How are your father and your sister Sarah?" Lucas said as he sat at his desk. Keira Lyons stood in front of him adorned in full brotherhood power armour. She held her helmet in her right hand and her laser rifle in the other.

"They're both well, Lucas. Thanks for asking. I believe we have an agreement to settle, my squad is eager to settle in. I trust the new barracks is ready on time."

"It certainly is. There's enough space for twenty knights, although I know we only agreed on ten. But maybe if things hot up around here with all these vertibirds flying over our town we'll need more in the future."

"We shall see, Lucas. For now, I'm eager to look over the recruits you have in mind for us, I hope their all young and keen to be a part of the brotherhood."

"I've got twenty six hopefuls ready to go with you back to the citadel. I'm sure they'll make good initiates."

"We only have room for ten at the moment, so I'll take the best you have. This will work well for both of us Lucas. Megaton is becoming a well established settlement in the DC Wasteland, second only to Rivet City, we need the support and manpower you can offer, it's a small price to pay to provide some knights to help protect this place."

"What about upgrading our armoury, have you brought the weapons and ammunition we agreed upon?"

"It's all here, I had some of your militiamen unload the wagons and take it up to the armoury. It's amazing how much stuff we can gather from slain enclave and super mutants, not to mention raiders and outcasts. We've certainly got no shortage of arms and ammo at the moment. We just need the people to use them."

"Just to let you know, we finally managed to gain access to the facility under Megaton, early signs are that the place is intact not to mention the fact that we've found an extensive cave system. We haven't explored fully yet but we're ready to go and eager to find out what's down there. Now we know why there's a nuke in the middle of this place, they were trying to destroy the bunker underneath this place. Who knows what tech is down there. But we've got to be careful, there's bound to be security systems still in place. You're knights will be invaluable in finding out what really is down there."

"If you need help with technical problems, I'll have a few scribes assigned to Megaton. They'll be able to help with computer terminals and other things likely to cause you some trouble. This could be a valuable find for the brotherhood. I can only imagine at the tech and resources that could be down there, untouched for over two hundred years."

"That would be a good idea, any help we can get with this would be most appreciated, Keira. You'll have to excuse me for a moment. It seems the caravan from Canterbury Commons is arriving any time now. Fresh meat for the whole town for the next month, 200 Brahmin, not to mention twenty wagon loads of goods. It's the biggest caravan we've had for years, it seems what with the brotherhood and the regulators, not to mention the rangers, the wastes are finally becoming safe enough to travel, albeit in well armed groups. But it's at least better than the last few years. The caravans were too weary to even set foot out of town, we were so used to rat meat we'd forgotten what Brahmin tasted like."

"The rangers. They seem to be an increasingly common sight around DC these days. I was unsure about them at first, them being mercenaries and all. But they've proved their worth and they help fight the horde of mutants that have appeared in DC."

Lucas stood, taking his hat and placing it on his head. He walked around his desk and shook Keira's hand.

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Keira. Let me show you to your recruits, and then I'll take care of the chaos that will occur when the caravan arrives."

They walked out of the office to the group of twenty six hopeful candidates stood outside. They were all keen to impress, they had all heard of life in the brotherhood. Never going thirsty or hungry. Having the best weapons, armour and ammunition available and somewhere safe to call home. It was a dream for many of the young people of the wastes to be accepted into the brotherhood.

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Ana awoke the next morning to the sound of a great deal of commotion coming from outside. She blinked her eyes several times, trying to see through her blurred vision. Her head pounded, she reached up to the towel wrapped around her head and suddenly remembered the night before. She pulled the covers over her head trying to hide from the outside world as she recalled fully what she had tried to do to Nova.

"Oh hell. You stupid girl, Ana." She muttered to herself repeatedly. Shaking her head in shame.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and suddenly heard a knock at the door downstairs. She searched for the key, swaying from side to side as the hangover took effect. She wandered downstairs cursing the fact she couldn't find the key. She walked over to the door and saw the key on the floor. She picked it up and opened the door. She was expecting Nova, but it was one of Moriarty's girls. She'd spoken to her a few times during the last month and knew her name was Blossom. She was a young Chinese American girl with thick long flowing dyed red hair and a large silver nose ring. Her sister Cherry was also one of Moriarty's girls.

"Hi, Ana. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, Blossom, what are you doing here?"

"I was speaking to Nova and she said you were staying in this place now. Cherry and I were wondering how you would fancy two guests. Please say yes, we really want to get out of the common rooms and we could pay you a hundred caps each per week."

Ana looked at the young woman and tried to focus, her ears were ringing and her head swimming, she felt nauseous and just wanted to go back to bed.

"I don't know, Blossom, I don't know you that well."

"You'll get to know us, intimately if you like." She said with a wicked grin.

"What … What do you mean intimately … I …" Ana protested, her face flushing a bright red.

"Nova's my best friend. She tells me everything, including what happened here last night. You certainly left a lasting impression on the poor girl." Blossom said and then began laughing as she saw the total embarrassment on Ana's face.

"Don't laugh at me, I'm embarrassed enough without you making it worst."

"Ok, whatever you say. Come on, Ana, it will be great, the three of us, you'll be able to fill this place up a lot quicker if there's three of us staying here and paying to look after the place. And besides, who's going to keep this place safe while you're out hunting with Joseph and Jacob, or whatever you plan on doing next."

"Alright, let me think about it. It sounds like a good idea and it will be good to have someone around the place to watch over it while I'm away. But no more jokes at my expense."

"Oh come on, Ana, lighten up. Nova's the kind of girl who everyone wants to be with, men and women. At least the ones who go in Moriarty's. Nobody would say a thing if you two were to you know …"

"That's enough, now either come in and sit down or let me get back to bed."

"Can't stay, Moriarty will have my hide if I'm late back. I'll speak to you later" She said and walked away, laughing as she went.

Ana silently cursed Nova for not keeping it to herself. It would be all around by the end of the day if it was left to Blossom and the other girls. No doubt she'd get some crude comments when she went back in Moriarty's.

She couldn't help but think of Amata and wondered what she would do in her situation. She was always the sensible one, always the one who had the good ideas and always knew what to say. She missed her friend and wished she could go back to the vault, just for a day to see her and tell her how much she wished she were out here with her, but that seemed a little selfish, at least she was safe in the vault, she hoped. Of course the straight laced Amata would never get herself into the compromising situations that Ana seemed to find herself in.

She wandered outside and looked over the side of the walkway. Down below there was a great deal of people gathered around shouting various bids, for the goods the caravan had brought in no doubt. She watched them for a few minutes and then determined not to spend the day in bed, persuaded herself to get dressed and have a walk around town.

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"Hi, Jenny, business looks like it's booming today." Ana said as she sat down quickly as one of the caravan guards got up from finishing his meal. Jenny Stahl smiled and walked over to Ana.

"Hi, Ana. It's great isn't it? I haven't been this busy for years. What will you have?"

"Just a mug of coffee, I don't think I could keep any food down."

Ana watched as Jenny brought her a steaming mug of brown coffee.

"Hey, Jenny, never mind the kid, get over here and bring me my dinner." Jericho shouted from the other end of the bar. The scowling ex-raider seemed even more disagreeable than usual and Ana paid him little attention as she sipped her coffee, and placed the caps for the drink on the bar.

Jenny scooped the caps up and put them in a bag on her belt. She frowned and looked at Ana. "Excuse me a moment, Ana. Some people have no manners." She said as she stared at Jericho.

"I said get over here, bitch. Get my goddamn dinner, now. I've been waiting nearly twenty minutes."

"It takes time to cook, you dumb idiot." Jenny shouted back at him.

Ana watched as the look on Jericho's face turned to extreme anger, he shot up and jumped over the bar, grabbing Jenny by the arm.

"Don't ever speak to me like that again you little whore, it's about time someone put you in your place you goddamn snooty bitch."

"Let go of my arm, Jericho, my brothers …"

"Your brothers are goddamn cowards, ain't nothing they can do to bother me."

"Hey, asshole, leave her alone." Ana said just loud enough for him to hear.

"Watch your stinking mouth, little missy, unless you know how you can really put it to good use." Jericho said with a dirty laugh.

Jenny tried to struggle free but couldn't get his hand off her arm. Her face cringed in pain as he tightened his grip on her arm.

"Let her go, you butt ugly bastard, the only attention your likely to get is from your mutant boyfriend, I heard you got a whole tribe of the ugly bastards waiting to give it to you." Ana sneered, clutching the mug in her hand and readying herself for what was to come.

"That big mouth of yours is gonna get you in to a whole world of trouble, bitch." Jericho said as he pulled Jenny closer to him, his hot breath on her face, as she frantically struggled to get away from him.

Suddenly Jenny raised her other hand and scraped her nails down the side of Jericho's face, he barely registered the pain as he raised his hand and backhanded her across the face. She went flying back into the wall of The Brass Lantern.

He barely noticed as Ana jumped over the bar, and brought the mug down on the back of his head. He raised his hands to protect himself, but found his legs swept from underneath him. Ana stood over him, fists clenched and waiting patiently for him to get back up.

"Hell, I guess I asked for that." Jericho said with a sly grin. He began laughing a moment later and pulled himself up suddenly smiling and rubbing his aching skull. He walked over to Jenny and held out his hand.

"I'm sorry, Jenny. I've just had a bad day. I had no right to take it out on you. Please accept my apologies."

Jenny seemed slightly startled by this sudden change in the ex-raider's manner, she wasn't used to seeing him as anything but an arrogant loud mouthed, overbearing thug. She took his hand and pulled herself up, brushing herself off and lightly touching her cheek where he had struck her.

"That's quite a strong arm you've got there, girly. I'll be on my way now before, holier than though Simms gets here, no doubt I can expect a visit from him soon. Listen, girly, look me up sometime, I heard you're making a name for yourself around here, word gets around, you know. Maybe I'll have a little business to send your way."

"I'll do that, Jericho. See you later." Ana said as he walked away.

"Thanks, Ana, what can I get you? Free on the house."

"I'll come back another day, when I'm not feeling quite so delicate. But I'll have another drink if that's ok. Sorry I broke your mug."

"Don't worry about it. I'll get you another drink."

Ana sat at The Brass Lantern for the next hour chatting with Jenny and watching the people come and go, her headache wasn't getting any better and she knew she had to face Nova soon. Not to mention getting back to work. There would be little need for hunting mole rats for the next month, with so much Brahmin meat around. She was seriously thinking about signing on as a caravan guard, it was time she got out of Megaton for awhile, and she certainly had a lot to think about.

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Several hours later Ana found herself wandering into Moriarty's. The place was packed again, and the girls were giving a pole dancing show for the cheering customers. Nova saw her immediately and smiled, but she was with a customer who didn't seem likely to let her go. Blossom wandered over and walked with Ana to the bar.

"What did you decide, Ana, are we in?"

"Why not, one hundred caps each a week, and no customers in my place. Leave it at work."

"Sure, sounds good, I'll tell Cherry, she'll be over the moon. Finally we're out of that damn common room. When can we move in?"

"Anytime, I'll be going back after leaving here so bring your stuff around and we'll see how it's going to work. There's not much furniture in there yet, I'll have to see Moira, see if she's got anything to make the place more homely. Another thing, I may be away for awhile, so you'll have the place to yourselves if I decide to go."

"Anywhere nice?"

"I doubt it, I'm thinking about signing on with one of the caravans."

"You must be crazy, with all those raiders out there."

"I'll be fine, I need the caps."

"There's easier ways to earn caps, why don't you ask Moriarty to set you on?"

"I don't think I could handle it."

"It's easy once you get used to it. Think about it, it's easy money, well sort of. I'll see you later. I've got to get back to work." Blossom said as she wandered back into the enthusiastic crowd.

Ana looked around to see who was in the place. She eventually wandered over to old Walther with a bottle of beer gripped tightly in her hands, although she was in no hurry to drink it. The old man greeted her and they were soon on Walther's favourite topic, the water processing plant. Within minutes he had her agreeing to help fix the leaking water pipes around town in return for some caps and because she couldn't help but like the old man. She spent the next four hours drinking one bottle of beer and eventually managed something to eat.

Ana was surprised at just how content she was becoming. She never thought that a place like Megaton could provide the same kind of feeling as home, but in many ways it was better than the vault. She loved the freedom she had and the lack of rules in the town, it made the vault seem stifling and authoritarian.

"Hey, missy, want a beer." Jericho said, handing Ana a cold beer. She looked up slightly startled by the sudden appearance of the man.

"Sure, thanks, sit down." Ana said with a smile, although she remained weary.

"I said I may be able to put some business your way, I've got a proposition for you. Moira Brown is looking for people to check out the old Super Duper Mart not far from Megaton, she said she'd already told you about it. Well she's asked me now, but I know that place, it's full of raiders and I don't fancy trying it on my own. I'd ask some of these guys but to be honest, they've gone soft hiding behind Megaton's walls. Ain't got a set of balls between them. So that's where you come in, I figure you could use the caps, and maybe we'll find some stuff we can trade in there. I need someone to back me up that won't run the first sign of trouble, but if you agree you had better damn well be prepared for what's in there. I know these bastards, it won't be as easy as you had it down at Springvale, these are real ruthless bastards, and if we ain't careful were likely to be the next thing on the menu. But it's up to you kid, I'll be glad to have you along if you're interested. What do you think?"

"Ok, are you sure we can do it with just the two of us?"

"We'll be fine, just follow my lead and we'll get through it in one piece."

Ana took a gulp of cold beer and wondered what she was letting her self in for and whether she could trust this man. What if he was looking for revenge for what happened earlier? She had no way of being certain but she decided to take the chance.

They discussed the details for the next hour until Jericho wandered over to one of the saloon girls and made himself comfortable.

Ana wandered back to the house, playing it over in her mind, they would go early tomorrow morning and maybe they'd catch the raiders unaware, she was more than a little apprehensive. It wasn't like having the Simms brothers backing her up. There would just be the two of them. But she just had to trust him.

Ana looked around her new house, she had hardly noticed the state it was in before. Cobwebs covered the ceiling, and it needed a good clean before she could move in. There was barely any furniture and it seemed almost empty. There were doors she couldn't open and didn't have a key for. She walked upstairs and lay down on the bed. Before long she was asleep and dreaming about being back in the vault.

Hours later she felt herself being shaken from her deep slumber.

"Ana, wake up." Nova said, shaking her by the arm.

Ana opened her eyes, trying to remember where she was.

"I've been trying to wake you for twenty minutes, I was getting worried."

"I'm fine, just having a strange dream about the vault."

"Look, I need to speak to you about what happened. I can't stop thinking about it."

"I'm sorry, Nova, I was drunk." Ana said with an embarrassed look.

"Don't say anything, just …" Nova leaned over and kissed her. Ana didn't see it coming and lay there seemingly helpless.

"What are doing, I …"

"If I don't do this, I know I'll regret it. Even Frank told me to go for it, he never was one to get jealous."

"You told Frank?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I, we've got no secrets."

"What did he say?"

"He wants to know when he can join us, typical man."

"I need to think about this, Nova."

"I know, I'll leave now, but just remember we need to talk about this. And be careful tomorrow, I don't know if you can trust Jericho."

"How do you know about that?"

"Word gets around quick in Megaton. I'll see you later. I'll help move your stuff in here when you come to collect it."

"Ok, I'll come for it tomorrow after I get back, if I get back."

"Don't say that, just watch your back and be careful."

"I will, see you tomorrow."

Nova left Ana to her thoughts.

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The next morning Ana was ready to go. She had arrived at Nova's just after sunrise to collect her weapons. She slung her assault rifle over her back. She carried two 10mm pistols in holsters on her belt. A combat knife in a leather sheath. She waited while Joseph fitted her scope to her hunting rifle and made the necessary adjustments. She decided that would be enough, there was no need to pack any food and water, the place they were going to was apparently quite close to Megaton. The whole family tried to talk her out of it, especially Joseph who seemed to have a great deal of dislike for Jericho. But she was determined to go and see what was waiting for them. Jericho arrived soon after and after saying her goodbyes the two of them walked up to heavy metal gates of Megaton and waited as they slowly opened. They walked out and began their short journey.

Ana was immediately drawn to the sight of the hastily erected Brahmin pens all around the front entrance, and she promised herself she must find time to visit The Phoenix Arms building which she had paid little attention to until now. She wondered who owned the other building across from, both in the same squat stone and metal design as each other.

Twenty minutes later they were lying behind a large rock looking at the front of the Super Duper Mart, ten raiders were loitering about, presumably on guard duty. The way Ana saw it. There must be something in there that was worth guarding. But how could the two of them hope to defeat so many raiders. Doubts began to set in as Jericho gave her a wicked smile.

"We'll wait until night, then sneak up on these bastards and light the place up like its the 4th July."

He handed her a bottle of dirty looking water, and a rather dubious looking apple. She took both and said thanks, taking a gulp of water and saving the apple till later. All they had to do now was wait and hope it all went to plan, if you could call it a plan.

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	7. Chapter 7

I've changed the story to an M rating from this chapter. It's difficult to write for a character like Jericho without him being able to use colourful language to its full extent. It also allows more graphic scenes of violence and other things that I would be weary of writing without changing the rating. Let me know what you think about this, if it puts too many people off reading I will have to consider rewriting the chapter.

Chapter 6

Ana lay face down on her stomach looking through her scope as the raiders went about their business. Jericho searched through his backpack, seemingly searching for something. Ana rested her finger on the trigger but was careful not to fire, not yet anyway. The plan was to wait until nightfall. Jericho had explained in detail several times over what he intended to do. It seemed to involve him taking an unlikely risk, as he would take the fight to the raiders. He had explained that stealth was the key, and that if they worked things to their advantage, being outnumbered wouldn't be a problem. Ana wearily eyed the small pile of flares and frag grenades with more than a little suspicion that Jericho had taken from his backpack and placed on the ground.

Ana looked up suddenly, the loud booming sound of thunder echoed all around them. It was the first time she had ever heard such a noise and immediately felt a little uneasy and slightly exposed to the elements. Life in a vault meant that the vault dwellers never saw the sky, never heard thunder or witnessed the ferocity of a lightning storm. None of them had ever felt rain fall on their faces, or experienced the worrying effects of radiation on their skin. Jericho handed her a plastic waterproof sheet, which she unfolded and covered herself with from head to toe, careful not to expose her skin to the steady drizzle that was falling from the thick black clouds that hovered over them, low and menacingly in the sky above. She had no idea if it was radioactive rain but she didn't want to take the risk, she had read in books the horrors of what radiation could do to the body, one only had to look at Gob to know that it should be avoided at all costs.

Within minutes the drizzle had become a downpour. Lightning lit up the sky in a terrifying display of raw power. Books could never have prepared Ana for this sudden explosive show of the elements. She looked on awe struck, peering from under her plastic sheet as the torrential rain washed away the dust of the DC Wasteland. Jericho lay down next to her, his own sheet covering his body.

"Move it or lose it, asshole." Ana snapped suddenly as Jericho's hand worked its way over her ass.

"Cant blame a man for trying. I thought we were developing some kind of understanding. No need to go and get all fucking prudish on me. You're worst than that prick teasing bitch Jenny Stahl." Jericho laughed and slowly took his hand away but not before giving her a squeeze, which brought a quick punch to the side of his jaw.

"Bitch, if we're gonna work together you have got to lighten up, little miss I've got my knickers on too tight." Jericho said as he rubbed his jaw, emphasising the pain, or should that be greatly exaggerating the pain.

"Keep it up, Jericho, and you'll have more to worry about than a few psychotic raiders." Ana said as she slid one of her pistols under his sheet and poked it in his ribs." She smiled at him with a look that said I'll kill you without thinking about it, you worthless piece of crap.

"Be careful with that thing, girly. Last thing I need is getting shot by some uptight little bitch who obviously hasn't been getting any lately." He said with a toothy grin, and licked his lips slowly making obscene gestures with his tongue.

"Has anyone ever told you you're all charm and charisma, Jericho? I'm surprised you haven't got a queue of women lining up to marry you."

"Funny little fucker aren't you. I do alright." Jericho said defensively.

"I don't doubt it, but I bet you have to buy it."

"Fuck you, Miss fucking 101. Shut the hell up. I've never worked with anyone who could be such a …."

"Charming, well spoken, educated, reliable person." She smiled at him mockingly.

"I was gonna say loud mouthed, shit talking whore." Jericho snarled, his temper rising at this sudden provocation.

"Wait, look, we can finish this crap later."

"Give me that rifle, let me have a look." Jericho said, taking the rifle and looking through the scope at the sudden surge of activity.

Jericho watched with interest as a second group of raiders came into sight. A long line of them winding back into the distance, he had not seen so many in one place since the days of his youth as a young raider. If he had to take a guess he would put their numbers at over two hundred. He recognised the gang tattoos on the newcomers. The surprising thing was that as he looked down the line he could make out the marking of four different gangs. The Warlords, The Black Panthers, The Damned, and The Bastard Brood. The gang who was occupying the Super Duper Mart were The Ravagers, it helped to know the enemy, and his years as a gang member of The Bloody Reapers had taught him to know who he was fighting, such as the hundreds of raider gangs in the DC Wasteland.

"This is really fucking bad, kid. We need to get the fuck out of here quick."

"Who are they?"

"Raiders, hundreds of the bastards. There's only one reason that so many would come together like this. An alliance, and the only thing around here that would be big enough to get their attention is Megaton. If I had to guess, they're planning a raid on the town, and if that's the case we need to get back now to warn them." Ana was unused to seeing Jericho look so serious, but he seemed to know what he was talking about, afterall he had been one of the scum in the past.

"I would have thought you would love to see the raiders get their hands on Megaton."

"I'm done with that life, Megaton took me in. I owe the people there."

The scene in front of the Super Duper Mart was getting more than a little scary, although all they were doing as they arrived was sitting down in the rain, waiting for the rest to arrive, there were just so many of them. Jericho watched as a huge shaven headed and heavily tattooed man came from inside the building to greet what he presumed was the other gang leaders. He led the other gang leaders inside, closely followed by the rest of the raiders. The place would be packed. Ana thought it would be a good idea if they had a few mini-nukes to fire into the place, but the best they could hope for were the four frag grenades Jericho had brought with him. There was no way they would get anywhere near to the place now, and if Ana was honest, all she really wanted to do was get back to the safety of Megaton, or preferably the vault. Though that was impossible now, thanks to her father, the selfish bastard, she thought miserably.

Jericho could see that underneath all the bravado she was just a scared little kid. At least that was the way he saw it. It made him smile, he had seen that look so many times before, both on the faces of his victims and on the faces of his fellow young gang members before a gang war that many knew they would not return from. If Jericho had ever known fear, he had long since forgotten what it felt like. He was numbed to the effects and consequences of all types of violence, and almost wished he could feel the fear that was so obvious on the girl's face.

"Are we going or not?" Ana asked worriedly as she packed up her things and handed the sheet back to Jericho, eager to put as much distance between her and the raiders as possible. Moira would have to wait for her bloody research, there was no way in hell Ana was going to risk her neck for a few hundred caps.

"Hold on, girly. I'm not leaving my stuff behind, it cost too damn much." Jericho said as he hurriedly packed his backpack, hampered slightly by the soaking they were getting from the increasingly heavy downpour.

He passed a couple of grenades to Ana. "Keep hold of them, I don't think we'll be followed but it's best to have something to get their attention if the fuckers get too close." Jericho said, taking two for himself and placing them in his pockets. The rest of his gear was packed in less than five minutes.

The evening sun was quickly disappearing over the horizon. It would soon be night. Jericho took out a flashlight. He slung his assault rifle over his shoulder and backed away from the outcropping of rocks towards the direction of Megaton. Ana shuffled backwards using the rocks for cover, being ever careful not to draw the attention of the raiders. Soon the raiders and the Super Duper Mart were small dots in the distance. With darkness closing in fast, they would have to hurry to get back to town.

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"What the hell are you doing with him, Ana? I thought I told you to watch out for certain people in Megaton." Lucas said as he sat at his desk sipping a steaming cup of what passed for coffee.

"Fuck you, Simms. Listen to what we've got to say or take the consequences." Jericho said angrily, tired of the sheriff's attitude towards him.

"I can make my own decisions, Lucas. He's right, you need to listen to what we have to say."

"It's your funeral, kid. Be careful this piece of trash doesn't fuck you over like he did his gang, or didn't he tell you about that."

"It doesn't matter, Lucas. We're all in trouble if we don't get ready for what's coming. We've just been over to the Super Duper Mart, to help Moira with her research. It paid well for a few hours work, and we didn't think it was going to be that dangerous, we were wrong."

"Why the hell should that matter to me?"

"Because we saw hundreds of raiders there, and the closest thing to attract a gathering like that is Megaton." Ana explained, remembering what Jericho had told her. Jericho leant up against the wall, looking on with a slight hint of distrust and perhaps a little hatred. He had never liked the sheriff and knew the feeling was mutual.

"Are you sure, do you realise what preparations we'll have to make if this is true?" Lucas said with a sudden serious intensity.

"It is true, Lucas. Are you listening to what we're saying you need to get the town ready now? God only knows when they'll attack, but we need to be ready for them."

"You'd better be fucking right about this, kid. I trust what you're saying, but this couldn't have come at a worst time. It means getting all the Brahmin inside of the town, preparing our defences, making sure everyone who can carry and fire a weapon straight has one. It's a good thing the brotherhood is here or things could really be looking bad right now." I'll prepare the militia and double the guards in the crows nests, but what I'm thinking is we don't let these bastards anywhere near Megaton."

"What do you mean" Ana asked curiously, wondering what the sheriff had in mind.

"I mean maybe we should take the fight to them."

"You're fucking crazy, Simms. You won't get anywhere near that place. Dig in here and get ready for the shit storm that's coming your way and pray the fuck that there's a town left at the end of it." Jericho shouted across the room, raising his voice loud enough to make his point plainly clear.

"I don't need or want your opinion, Jericho. For all I know you're a part of this."

"You're way the fuck out of order, Simms. How many times do I have to go through this shit with you, I said I'm done with that life."

"I say what I see, Jericho. I don't trust you, never have and never will."

"Who gives a fuck what you think about me. You've got the word of little miss vault 101, and she's the golden girl at the minute, so listen to her or pay the fucking price you dumb shit."

"Just get the hell out of here, Jericho. Go and get drunk, because I know that's where you'll be when the shit hits the fan. And another thing, stay away from Jenny Stahl. I heard what you did to her, next time you're out of here for good, got it, dumb ass."

"Loud and clear, sheriff. I'll be going now. At least I can find people more to my tastes in Moriarty's Place."

"Like I said, you're not happy unless you're blind drunk or screwing with one of Moriarty's whores, you're no good for this town, Jericho."

"We'll see sheriff, when it happens I'll be there, and you'll thank me."

"When hell freezes over. Now go, get the fuck out of my office, I can't stand the smell of your bullshit any longer."

"I'm gone. Careful girly, I wouldn't trust the good sheriff as far as I could spit, see you later 101."

"See you later, Jericho." Ana said quietly. She wanted to be careful not to be drawn into the two men's feud, and didn't want to be seen taking sides. She watched as he left the office and then looked back at Lucas who seemed to be seething with anger. She could tell something was bound to happen between the two men sooner or later and knew she wouldn't like to get in the middle of them when it finally happened.

"You sure haven't got a damn clue when it comes to picking your friends, Ana" Lucas said as he turned towards her.

"He's not a friend, more of a business acquaintance."

"I guess you're a big girl now, no point trying to …"

"Thanks anyway, Lucas. I know you're only trying to look out for me."

"No problem, kid. I need to get things started. The whole town needs to know what's happening. Could you go over to the brotherhood barracks and let Keira Lyons know I need to speak to her urgently. I'll speak to the militia and then try to organize those who are willing to help."

"Surely everyone will help, if this place falls, we're all dead."

"Let's just say some people would love to see this place burn. Not everyone is keen on our little town, and from what I've heard they intend to send us all to hell one way or another."

"Such as who?" Ana asked curiously, wondering what anyone could have against the people of Megaton.

"From what I hear, Mr Tenpenny is some kind of rich bigshot from down south. He's had one of his goons, a Mr Burke, set up house here for the past six months. He's been asking a lot of questions about the town and the people who live here. I've got nothing on him yet, but I'm just waiting for him to slip up. Sooner or later I'll have the bastard where I want him."

"I haven't seen him around town."

"He's away on business, so the rumour goes. He should be paying us a visit any time now."

"I'll let you know if I find anything out."

"Anyway, enough about that, it's time to get ready. I doubt they would attack tonight, but the sooner we are ready, the happier I'll be."

"Ok, I'll go and see Keira. Do you need any help with anything else?"

"Get some sleep. I've got a feeling your going to need it over the next few days."

"I might try Moriarty's Place for a few hours."

"Don't get in any trouble, Ana."

"You're worst than my dad."

"That reminds me, how's the hunt for him going?"

"I haven't done anything about finding him since I got here. I guess I'm still mad at him for leaving the vault."

"Go easy on him, kid. He's all you've got."

"I know, when I'm ready I'll start looking. See you later, Lucas."

"See you later Ana."

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End file.
